Crusaders of Dusk
by DarkFoxKit
Summary: Cut off from the life he knew, an Absol now must work his way and earn his right to return to the place he called home. Joining him is a timid Goomy who desires to become stronger and more respected. The two will face many challenges, learning to trust one another.
1. Chapter 1: Dust

**DarkFoxKit:** Hello everyone! Those of you who know me from Child of Mew… sorry that I'm not posting the sequel to it yet, but I've been working on a Pokemon Mystery Dungeon story with Traveling Master here. No, he's not Darkzdragon 'Onyx' named differently, this is an entirely different person. Traveling Master, say 'hi' to everyone.

**Traveling Master: *A Charmeleon comes into view* **Hey everyone. Gotta say, really excited to be here with DarkFoxKit.

**DarkFoxKit:** Heh, it's been a while since I wrote with anyone other than Onyx. Traveling Master is an old friend of mine. We were discussing a possible story idea, and Traveling Master here was telling me about an idea he had for an Absol, and it sounded pretty exciting, so I asked if he wanted any help, and… well, this story came to be. Now, I know what you're thinking, you guys are worried it might turn out like my last Pokemon Mystery Dungeon story where the story pretty much got abandoned. That one got a bit complicated, and eventually the person who wrote it with me just kinda disappeared. But I'm hoping we'll actually be able to finish this one, and you can all enjoy it.

**Traveling Master: **I think we'll finish this story, we've been working on it for a bit now and it's too good to just let it die on us. Honestly the idea came out of nowhere, hit me like a wrecking ball. But thanks to DarkFoxKit, we are now turning this simple idea into reality, and I'm looking forward to sharing it with you all.

**DarkFoxKit:** Yup, if you guys have any questions or just want to say something, you're free to leave reviews. We will be answering them on the next update. If you have criticism, please make sure they're constructive, if you review just to insult us or the story, you will be removed. Oh, and disclaimer… you know none of us actually owns Pokemon, right? Okay, now that that's out of the way, we'll let you guys get into the chapter.

* * *

**Chapter 1: Dust**

It was a beautiful day in a forest. Wild Pokemon were moving on about their business, not seeming to care about other species, but rather only their own kind. The forest was filled with Grass or Bug type Pokemon.

Then, a white-furred Pokemon started to walk through the seemingly peaceful forest, followed by a smaller white-furred Pokemon. The larger of the two kept their red eyes forward, while the smaller one was looking around, his red and blue eyes filled with wonder. The wild Pokemon looked at these two in curiosity, but most went into hiding, for they knew the appearance of these two Pokemon meant a disaster was on the horizon.

"Huh, strange that they're running off." The smaller of the two looked to see if any other remained, but there were none. "We haven't even said anything."

"That's because we're Absol, Dust. Wild Pokemon see us for what we are, not who we are, and as you know, the appearance of our kind usually meant disaster would be coming soon," The bigger Absol explained.

"Well, that's rude. I can understand that from civilized Pokemon and such. But I never thought wild Pokemon would give a similar reaction. Fascinating." Dust looked around a bit more, deep in thought about the very nature of wild Pokemon. "Mother, do you think we can-"

The bigger Absol cut him off by holding up her paw. "No, I already told you, we are here for a mission, not to waste time."

"I wouldn't call it wasteful...More like an investment for future research. Think of the possibilities we could unlock if I can study and understand wild Pokemon! Just give me five minutes! No, three! That's all the time I need to find the perfect test subject."

The bigger Absol sighed in exasperation. "No, Dust! I'm here to show you what a real mission is like. You're not here to research, you're here to find and capture an outlaw. If you waste too much time, the outlaw will get away and will be free to cause more crime and put innocent Pokemon in danger. Now stay focused, I know the outlaw is close."

The bigger Absol turned away from Dust and started to move forward, her senses sharpened as she began to move faster. The younger Absol sighed as he followed behind, struggling to keep up with her. They continued to move through the forest, the mother picking up pace with each step. She suddenly came to a halt, spotting a dark figure in the distance. She quickly crouched low, making sure not to give her position away.

Dust, who had fallen somewhat behind, and was out of breath, had to stop to take a breather. Then the young Absol noticed something moving from the corner of his eye. Looking to his left, he saw a wild Shroomish looking curiously at him. The Shroomish appeared to be smaller than the average Shroomish, so it was likely a young one, and didn't know any better about Absol yet.

"Shroomish…?" The Shroomish said, speaking in the primitive language of Pokemon.

Dust looked around, seeing no sign of his mother. "I'm sure she won't mind if I spend a few minutes studying this Shroomish. If only she allowed me to take some of my items with me. Oh well, I'll make do with what I got. Now Shroomish, I'll call you Shroom for short, I hope you are just as excited as me because together we are going to learn so much!"

"Shroom?" The Shroomish didn't seem to understand what Dust was saying.

Meanwhile, Dust's mother was planning on her next move. "Okay, Dust, you're going to want to pay attention to-"

The Absol stopped when she realized the smaller Absol was nowhere in sight. She let out a hiss before she backed away from the Pokemon so she wouldn't alert them, then turned around and hurried back.

"Dust! Where are you!? Get your tail over here right now!" The Absol called out in annoyance.

Dust, who was currently holding the Shroomish between his claws to get a better look suddenly tensed up. A chill ran down his spine, knowing all too well that sense of dread. Unfortunately, that caused him to tighten his grip on the Shroomish, who cried out in pain.

"SHROOOOO! SHROOMISH!" The Shroomish cried, struggling in Dust's claws.

"Dust! What are you doing!?" The bigger Absol hissed when she found him. "Put that thing down before it-"

The Shroomish unleashed yellow spores from the top of its head, covering both Dust and the bigger Absol in it. Dust, being the closet of the two to the Shroomish, instantly breathed in the spores, already feeling his nerves going stiff, his body becoming stiffer and number by the moment. The bigger Absol quickly held her breath not to breathe in the Stun Spore, but just by touching the spore was already causing her body to feel numb, she moved back but her foremost leg was covered in spores, and it caused her to limp as she was unable to move it.

"What's that noise…?" The dark shadowy Pokemon moved towards them, wanting to see what all the commotion was.

The bigger Absol hissed in frustration when she saw a Nidoking walking up to them. The Nidoking looked at the two Absols, though he gasped when he saw the bigger Absol.

"Eclipse…" The Nidoking whispered in horror before he turned tail and quickly ran away as fast as his big body would let him run.

The bigger Absol that was called Eclipse tried to give chase, but her numb body and paralyzed leg made it impossible for her to move fast enough to catch up to the running Nidoking. It wasn't long before Eclipse lost sight of the Nidoking. She soon stopped, knowing that pursuing the outlaw would be a lost cause. Any Pokemon nearby felt the threatening aura coming from Eclipse and quickly ran away in fear, including the Shroomish that paralyzed them. Dust would have done the same if his body wasn't currently paralyzed. It wasn't long until Eclipse returned to where her son was lying on the ground.

"N-now mother, I know what you're thinking. B-but don't you think me being p-paralyzed is a good punishment already?" He asked, both with hope and fear in his voice.

Eclipse looked down at her paralyzed son, her eyes almost looking like they were glowing red. "You haven't even begun your punishment. Once I'm through with you, you will wish you were still paralyzed. You had one job, just one job, Dust, and that was to watch me catch and subdue the outlaw!"

"W-would it help if I mentioned that the spore on my fur can be u-used to make a form of anti-paralysis potion?" Dust asked nervously.

Eclipse didn't give a response to that, instead walking closer and closer to Dust. His screams rang out through the forest, causing Pidgey and Starly to fly away into the sky.

* * *

Eclipse was pacing around in an office, talking to a Gardevoir, who was sitting at her desk, listening to the frustrated Absol.

"I just don't know what to do with him, Grace! I've tried to get him to learn what being on a real mission is like, and he somehow screwed up the mission so bad that the outlaw managed to escape! Honestly, I don't know where he gets his curious mind from, he's not a Psychic type, nor is he a researching Pokemon, yet for some reason, he is! And he's so shut in that he doesn't know how to survive in the field, so much so he actually grabbed a wild Shroomish. A WILD SHROOMISH! Can you believe that!? I'm at the end of my rope here!" Eclipse ranted.

"Hmm, you would think that from all the time he spends in the guild library he would've at least learned about Shroomish and their spore ability," Grace mused.

"And that's another thing! He spends all day in that library! Refusing to participate in missions. I tried to get him a partner but he somehow manages to drive them away!"

"Ah yes, I remember reading some reports from our members. To best put it, they mostly said that his 'personality' was too much for them."

Eclipse sighed. "He keeps wanting to use them for his silly experiments, which, more often than not, end up causing them to get hurt with an explosion. There's one thing about Absol he got right; he brings disaster wherever he goes! At this rate, I fear for my son's future. He can't be a member of a guild if he won't go on missions and actually contribute to the Pokemon society."

Grace was in deep thought, trying to think of any helpful solutions for the young Absol. Then an idea came to her, and the more she thought about it, the more her idea made perfect sense.

"I might have a solution that may benefit both you and Dust. Perhaps you should cut him off?" The Gardevoir suggested.

"Cut him off?" Eclipse repeated the question, confused by Grace's words.

"Normally guild members have access, depending on their rank, to the many resources our guild provides. Because of your status and you being his mother, it seems as though he has taken advantage of using our resources. Even ones that are normally restricted to lower-ranked members, he gains access to."

Eclipse frowned. "I don't know, Grace… Dust showed he isn't exactly… capable of surviving on his own. And I doubt any of our Normal Rank members would even want to be his partner considering his reputation. You know how dangerous it is to send a member alone on missions."

Grace smiled as she stood up. "I understand, that's why I suggest he joins another guild. One that doesn't know of his reputation."

The Absol raised an eyebrow. "What guild is going to accept a weak Absol who doesn't even act like an Absol? You know guilds have requirements for Pokemon to join them, right? The only reason Dust is even in this guild is because of his connection to me."

"I have a few that come to mind. Perks of being a guild master is you tend to have some connections with other guild masters. I'll see which guild will best suit Dust and his...skills."

"Well, once you find them, we'll have to call a council meeting to decide Dust's fate," Eclipse stated. "Deporting a member of the guild is a big decision after all."

* * *

In a quiet library, Pokemon were looking through books for research or entertainment purposes. A certain Absol, with some injuries, was sitting on a personal table, reading a book about Grass type Pokemon. Dust was currently reading about Shroomish.

"Interesting. To think that their spores are potent enough to cause nearby trees and plants to wilt. We were definitely lucky that it only released stun spore. If only mother had allowed me to keep a sample of the spore, I'm sure with enough time and research I could've come up with a formula to counteract the paralysis."

"Great, look who showed up." A voice whispered across the room, though it was loud enough for Dust to hear the words.

"We better stay clear of him, don't want to be caught up in another one of his experiments." Another voice whispered back.

"I still don't get why that freak is allowed in here. You would think after all those fire incidents he caused they would've banned him from the library."

"He is Eclipse's son, it wouldn't be easy to get rid of him."

"He sure doesn't act like Eclipse's son."

"Shh, not so loud. The last thing I want is to face his mother."

"I still wonder why one of his eyes is blue, it just looks so weird."

"Probably one of his experiments blew up in his face."

"Yeah, let's find another spot away from here in case he causes another explosion."

"What are you worried about? At least you're a Fire type."

The whispering started to get softer and softer until Dust couldn't hear them anymore. Despite all the words they'd said about him, he just took in a deep breath and let it out slowly, going back to his reading. He heard all the rumors before, he noticed all the glares when others thought he wasn't looking, it was nothing new to him. As long as he had his research, he didn't really care what the others thought of him.

The only thing that did bother him was his right eye. From what he learned, Absols are supposed to have red eyes. But he never understood why his right eye was blue instead of the natural read. He had done some research in the past concerning pure and mixed breed but all he learned was how society viewed them. His mother often refused to bring up the topic, and eventually, he stopped asking her. He pushed those thoughts to the back of his mind and focused on the book again, wanting to learn more.

There was some information in the book on how to cure things like paralysis, like Cheri Berries could cure paralysis, Pecha Berries could cure Poison, Oran Berries could heal small wounds, and so on. The guild always had a stash of these special berries in case they needed them for healing or emergencies, though Dust never had a chance to really study the berries and their special properties. But after the incident with the Shroomish, he now wanted to 'borrow' said berries. Knowing full well that he could easily obtain them due to his relationship with his mother, he closed the book and put it back on the shelf to start making his way to the guild's storage facility.

* * *

Eclipse was sitting at a marble, rounded table in a large conference room. There were four others sitting there. Grace was there, of course. Then there was a Metagross, who was the largest one here and had the largest seat, a Lilligant, who elegantly took her seat, and a Morpeko, who was the smallest one in the room and had a small seat that was lifted up to the table so he could see over it.

"So we were called here to discuss the fate of Dust?" The Morpeko spoke up.

The mere mention of his name caused the Metagross to groan. "Can we make this quick? I feel every minute spent here is a minute for Dust to cost our guild more of our income!"

"Calm yourself, Xavier. Perhaps by the end of this discussion, Dust will be out of your metallic feet," The Lilligant remarked.

"Easy for you to say Peach, you're not the one who has to constantly deal with his experiments! It costs fortunes to clean up his mess! And yet I've never seen him touch any of your precious food supply." Xavier snapped.

"I think he keeps things entertaining," The Morpeko chuckled. "It certainly keeps me on my toes to make sure he doesn't cause a complete blackout."

"Because you're used to things going wrong, Oxnard, and you get a kick out of it," Peach rolled her eyes.

"Enough!" Grace shouted to the council, letting out some bits of energy. "I didn't call this meeting for us to list the complaints of Dust and each other. As Oxnard said before, we are here to discuss the fate of Dust."

"What is it that you plan to do with him, exactly? While I'm sure Xavier would love to put him out on the streets, we can't exactly do that," Peach said.

"I'd rather we didn't either, I am still his mother," Eclipse added.

"You're the reason why we have to deal with Dust." Xavier pointed out, only to be greeted with a glare from Eclipse, causing him a brief moment of dread. "What I mean is that due to you being his mother, he has been given too much leverage in our guild. Things would be different if he contributed to the guild, but so far he's done nothing but cause problems."

"I understand your complaint, Xavier. I even tried to give him experience on the field in hopes that he would be inspired to go on actual missions," Eclipse sighed. "Unfortunately, that didn't turn out so well either."

"You know what the problem with that is? You're a Master Rank, he's barely a Normal Rank himself. A Normal Rank would have trouble keeping up with a Master Rank. You're also used to going on dangerous missions with more capable teammates, you don't have the patience to deal with a complete rookie," Oxnard pointed out.

"Which is why I've come up with a solution." All eyes turned to Grace. "Xavier, you are right, he has too much access to our resources. And Oxnard does prove a point, you can't expect him to be able to keep up with you, Eclipse. I've received reports in the past from his former partners, and at this point, he's made a reputation for himself."

"So then what is this solution?" Peach asked the question everyone was thinking.

"We simply send him to another guild, have him start anew. He will have no connections to this guild, no access, no resources. He will have to work his way up from the bottom. Despite the many issues that he has caused in the past, he is a brilliant member. He has great potential, what he lacks is motivation, a drive to become a crusader Xavier, you said it yourself, things would be different if he contributed to the guild."

"But how would we send him to another guild? Most guilds have certain requirements for Pokemon to join. Dust doesn't exactly… fit most of those requirements," Oxnard pointed out.

"I still say throw him onto the streets, so he'll learn from experience on how to fight and survive, then he'll be strong enough to join another guild for sure," Xavier grumbled.

The Absol shook her head. "As I mentioned before, he struggled out on the field. I recognize that my experiences differ vastly from my son, but even then he showed that he would have a very difficult time out on his own. A guild will make sure to keep him safe while he gains experience."

"There is a guild that will let a weak Absol in," Grace spoke up, answering Oxnard's question. "It is a guild that is often known as the outcast guild, because they are willing to take in just about any Pokemon, including the naturally weak ones. But the actual name for the guild is the Unity Guild. They will accept him."

Xavier laughed after hearing the name. "You must be joking! You want to send him to that guild? That's even better than the streets! When can we send him?!"

"Patience." Grace held up her hands to calm the Metagross down. "As with all things, we must come with a unanimous vote before determining Dust's fate."

"I… unfortunately think this is the best solution for him," Eclipse sighed. "Dust needs to learn and grow on his own, even if it means sending him to the Unity Guild."

"I'm down, I'm curious to see how he does," Oxnard chimed in.

"You already know my vote. The sooner he leaves, the better." Xavier grinned.

Everyone looked to the Lilligant, waiting for her answer.

"What's your vote, Peach?" Grace questioned.

The Lilligant hesitated. "I'm… not sure… I mean Dust may be a bit of a troublemaker, but I don't think it would be fair to just send him off to some outcast guild…"

As if on cue, the door suddenly flew open and a Chatot came flying into the conference room. "P-please excuse me, Guild Master and Council members, but I have an important message to give you."

"What is it?" Grace asked.

"Dust the Absol took about half of the guild's berry supply and caused an explosion with his experiments. The hallway and library are covered in berry juice," The Chatot reported.

"He what?!" Peach shouted as she stood up from her chair.

The Chatot gulped as he repeated his message. Grace dismissed him, leaving the council room silent for a solid minute.

"You were saying, Peach?" Grace asked.

Peach looked like she was ready to skin Dust alive. "Send him, right now, get him out of here!"

The Gardevoir smiled after hearing those words. "Then we are all in agreement, Dust will be sent to the Unity Guild by tomorrow morning. Eclipse, I trust that you will inform your son of this?"

Eclipse nodded but frowned a little. "I know that you all want him gone, but… isn't there any way for him to come back to this guild? Perhaps after he proves himself to be an effective guild member?"

"Please, as if we'd ever let him back here," Xavier replied. "The day he becomes anything other than a Normal Rank will be the day I denounce my own nobility."

"How about Gold Rank?" Oxnard added. "I think that would be pretty interesting if he reached that rank."

"It takes guild members years to reach the Gold Rank though," Eclipse pointed out.

"Good, maybe those years of having to actually work for his food would teach him better respect for the berries I worked so hard to grow," Peach hissed, still ticked off.

Grace then looked at Eclipse. "Okay, Eclipse, how about this? If Dust can become a Gold Rank in one year on the day he was sent to the Unity Guild, we will trust that he's become an effective guild member and will welcome him back with open arms."

"One year?!" Eclipse shouted out. "You can't expect him to reach Gold Rank by then!"

"Actually I do. I said it before and I'll say it again. He has great potential, he just lacks motivation. I believe this will motivate him enough to achieve Gold Rank by then. He is also your son and you were able to reach Gold Rank in under a year, so he should be capable of doing so as well," Grace informed.

Eclipse didn't seem all that convinced. "He's not exactly a prodigy like I was…"

"It's either this or he stays at Unity Guild," Grace shrugged.

"Fine, I'll take you up on the offer, Grace," Eclipse relented.

Grace smiled at Eclipse's response. "Very well, meeting adjourned."

* * *

Later, that night, Dust had just finished his bath, having had to wash off all the berry juice that had soaked deep into his fur. He was at home, a place of great comfort for him. He and his mother lived in a large room in the guild, where everything he could want and need was. Except for the books, the library had all of that.

Dust was doing some more research on berries and Grass type Pokemon when he heard the door open. Eclipse came walking inside, having a somber look on her face.

"Dust… we need to talk," Eclipse said in a serious tone.

"Ah, mother...If it's about earlier today, I promise you, that was not my intention. I'd never had a chance to work on berries before, so I admit, causing that explosion was very unexpected. But on the bright side, we have a surplus of jam." He grinned, hoping to lessen the oncoming punishment he was sure he was going to get.

"I think Peach would have a worse punishment for you than whatever I could think of," Eclipse remarked. "And this isn't about that."

"Really?" Dust was actually surprised. "Was it about this morning with the Shroomish? Because I promise you I learned my lesson. In fact, I've done some research on the Grass Pokemon itself."

Eclipse raised her paw to silence Dust. "Listen to me, Dust, there was a council meeting earlier today. We've all made a decision… you're going to have to be cut off from the Olympus Guild. We will be sending you to Unity Guild tomorrow morning."

For a moment, Dust just stood both shocked and confused. But then he smiled, thinking it was a joke. "I get it, you're joking. And here I thought you didn't have a sense of humor. I mean come on, Unity Guild? I've never heard of that. But I commend you on your joke mother. You gave me quite the scare for a moment."

"I'm dead serious, Dust. You have caused a lot of problems and inconvenience for a lot of Pokemon here. Nobody wants to be your partner now, even the new members will stay away from you due to your reputation alone. You haven't contributed anything to the guild, and you need to learn to get stronger without being a complete shut-in," Eclipse said firmly.

"Mother, please be reasonable. You've seen what happened this morning. You can't honestly expect me to survive out in some random guild on my own!" Dust pleaded. "Everything I need is here! The library alone has given me so much!"

"And that is exactly the problem!" Eclipse hissed, looking directly into Dust's mismatched eyes. "You firmly believe all you'll ever need are books, food, and things to experiment on. You also treat others like they're nothing more than either an annoyance or something to experiment on, no wonder nobody wants to be your partner! You need to stop staying indoors, only reading books, and get out there and actually do something useful! You're lucky we're even sending you to a guild at all, many would've just been fine putting you out in the streets!"

Dust started evaluating all possible options, any possible solution, anything to convince his mother to change her mind but nothing came to him. "Isn't there anything I can do to change your mind?"

Eclipse's expression softened a little. "The Guild Master did give you a chance to come back if you can fulfill the condition. If you can become a Gold Rank in one year starting tomorrow, you'll be allowed back to the Olympus Guild."

He jumped back at hearing the condition. "One year?! That's impossible! It takes years for any member to reach such a rank. You can't expect me to honestly become Gold Rank within a year!"

"It's not impossible, Dust. I was able to do it in under a year, you're my son, and I know you have the potential to do it if you actually put in the effort. If you continue with the 'it's impossible' attitude, however, you will surely fail," Eclipse remarked. "The Guild Master is set on this, no matter what I say, those are the conditions for you to return."

Dust sat in silence, taking everything in until he finally spoke. "You said I leave tomorrow?"

"Yes, you'll be leaving once you wake up. And no, you can't delay it by sleeping in longer, you are leaving in the morning," Eclipse said. "So pack up whatever you want to bring with you, and don't pack a bunch of books either."

He sighed in defeat and went to his room, only thinking of the little time he had left before he left his only home.

* * *

Dust wasn't sure if he'd be able to sleep that night. He wasn't sure what to pack. His mother told him not to pack a bunch of books, but he didn't know what else he wanted to bring with him to this unknown guild.

Then there was a knock on his bedroom door. Caught off guard, he opened the door, expecting to see his mother. Instead, it was the Guild Master herself.

"Guild Master Grace?! What brings you here?" He then noticed that his mother wasn't nearby, only adding more to this strange visit.

"Shh, don't make so much noise," Grace hushed. "I'm here to give you a secret mission, that means you can't tell anyone, not even your mother, understood?"

"But why? I'm already being tasked with joining a guild I've never heard of and to top it off I need to reach Gold Rank by the end of the year!" Dust said, though in a whisper tone.

"Yes, and that's exactly why I'm assigning you the secret mission. There's a special item in that guild that I want you to investigate and retrieve without getting caught. If you can do that, I will talk to the Guild Master there to raise your rank to Gold," Grace informed quietly. "Only members of the Unity Guild can even come close to the item, which is why I can only assign this secret mission to you."

Dust was in deep thought, a small part of him found it strange that he was given this secret mission, but his more curious part drowned out those thoughts. A special item that only the Guild Master wants? What could it be? And the possibility of gaining Gold Rank if he completed this mission only pushed his curiosity further. After thinking more about it, he looked at Grace, determination in his eyes.

"I accept." He nodded to the Gardevoir.

Grace gave a smile. "I'm glad you've accepted, Dust. Remember, you can't mention this to anyone. If the Guild Master suspects you, then you'll never be able to get near the vault that holds the item in question. Don't be hasty either, this isn't a mission you can complete in one day, you will need to spend some time to gain their trust. I'll let you be the judge for when would be the best time to approach the subject of that item to the Guild Master."

"You can count on me." Dust promised.

"Good. I'll let you get back to your packing. I wish you luck with this mission." She smiled one last time before teleporting away.

"Amazing. If only I could use teleport, oh the possibilities!" He fantasized for a moment before remembering that he still needed to pack.

Now with a new goal, he had a better idea of what to take with him to this new guild. It wasn't long until he had his satchel filled with all the necessary items he believed he would need for his mission. He looked outside the window to see the moon was high. He smiled to himself, glad to know that he now had a chance. A chance to return to his home.

* * *

Morning came all too soon for Dust, and although he had hope again, he still didn't like the idea that he would have to leave the comforts of his home that had everything he needed to some unknown guild. Dust wasn't even sure if the guild had a library or any books at all. He was likely to just find more Pokemon who would judge him, though on the other paw, he might get to see Pokemon he never saw before and he wouldn't be away forever now that the Guild Master trusted him with this secret mission. His thoughts were interrupted by knocking on his door.

"Coming." He opened the door to see his mother waiting on the other side.

"Are you ready yet?" Eclipse asked.

"Ready as I'll ever be." Despite his secret meeting last night, he tried his best to sound depressed about leaving. But to be honest, it wasn't that hard. He still didn't want to go.

Eclipse could see a blue bag that was strapped around Dust's chest and side and gave him a nod. "Okay. We should get going then. You'll be taken to the guild by the Carriage."

Dust gave a solemn nod to his mother before following her out of his room, he looked back at it one more time, knowing it will be a while before he saw it again, before he followed after Eclipse.

While the two Absol were making their way out of the guild, Dust could see mixed receptions. The other members were bowing in respect to Eclipse, though they did glance at him in either disgust or relief that he was leaving.

When they finally made it outside, Dust saw two Ponyta strapped to a carriage. Though they were two different Ponyta, one was the Fire type that was the most common in their area, while the other had a cotton-candy-like mane with a horn. Dust knew this Ponyta was a different form, and was rare around here, though they were more common in another region. It was rare to see both forms of the same species in one place.

"So how long until I reach the guild?" Dust asked while at the same time taking a closer look at the two Ponytas.

"Depending on traffic and the weather, it should take them about 2 or 3 days to reach the Unity Guild," Eclipse answered.

Eclipse then used the blade on her head to open Dust's bag before she dumped some Pokes into it. "This should be enough to give you a week's worth of food, as long as you don't blow it all."

"Do not fret mother, I promise to not waste all of it." He closed his bag, making sure that it was secured.

Eclipse nodded as she looked at her son. "Despite me being hard on you, I do care about you, Dust. I wish you the best of luck in Unity Guild."

She then hugged her son, catching him off guard. He always tried to avoid physical contact with others, and it wasn't very often that he received hugs from his mother, but he hugged her back, taking in the comfort of her arms.

"Thank you." He didn't want to let go, but he knew he had to get on that carriage eventually.

"I will see you again when you become a Gold Rank, Dust," Eclipse said when they finally parted. "I know you can do it, son."

He gave her one last smile before turning towards the carriage, his smile disappearing soon after. He took one last look at his mother and at the guild behind her, his home, before hopping on. Dust looked at the two Ponyta, who were waiting for him to give them the destination, but then it occurred to him that he didn't even know where Unity Guild was. He looked back at his mother, giving a sheepish grin.

Eclipse rolled her eyes, realizing what that meant. She walked up to the two Ponyta. "The destination is Unity Guild in the White Leaf town."

"Oh, that's just fabulous, it will give me and my sister quite the workout," The Psychic type Ponyta stated in a male voice.

"Speak for yourself, it's hard to run without your annoying long mane getting in my face," The Fire type Ponyta huffed.

"Oh, it won't be so bad. Plus, it's been awhile since we've been there. It'd be good to look around after we get there." The Psychic type Ponyta happily replied.

"Whatever, let's just get going," The Fire type Ponyta rolled her eyes.

Dust watched as the two different types of Ponyta began moving. The young Absol looked back at the Guild as he was getting further and further away from it, feeling a sense of finality.

He sighed to himself. "Only three hundred and sixty-five days left before I can return home.

* * *

The ride started out lonely and anxiety-inducing for Dust, but after the first day had passed, Dust became fascinated with the scenery as they were going. He also started to talk to the two Ponyta that were pulling his carriage. Dust began to ask them questions about how and why their types and forms are so different from each other. The female Fire type Ponyta got annoyed rather quickly, though the male Psychic type Ponyta seemed to enjoy answering questions that involved him showing off.

The second day they had hit a little snag. A storm came by, forcing them to stop by a nearby inn. Despite enjoying all the questions from the previous day, the Psychic type Ponyta was started to get a little tired of the constant questions from Dust.

By the third day, a rural town came into view. The two Ponyta sighed in relief, glad to be close to their destination. Soon they reach White Leaf, catching the attention of some of the Pokemon outside their homes. They continued onward, passing the town square, many other buildings of different sizes until they finally stopped in front of a strange building. Dust had never seen anything like it before but it seemed to resemble some sort of Pokemon, though what kind he couldn't name.

When the two Ponyta stopped, the Fire type looked back at the carriage. "Okay, we're here, time to get off, curious boy."

Dust hopped down from the carriage, not only was the building new to him, everything around him was new. He had read about the rural areas before, but it was his first time actually seeing it with his own eyes. The air was much cleaner here, there was also a strong scent of vegetation. It was far quieter than the capital that the Olympus Guild was in.

"So is there someone who I'm supposed to meet? Or do I just walk in?" He asked the two Ponyta but received no reply. He turned around and noticed that they had already left, likely when he was busy taking in his new surroundings. "Oh...okay...Guess I'll just...walk right in."

The young Absol hesitantly made his way to the entrance of the guild, he then lifted up his paw to tap on the door, his own version of knocking. After about a second or two, the door opened, which surprised Dust as he was sure that there would only be a top door that would open, or someone looking through a spy hole to make sure he wasn't dangerous or some hobo trying to ask for a favor.

The Pokemon that opened the door was a Kangaskhan, who looked down at Dust. "Oh, hello there, how can I help you?"

"U-uh...I...Um…" Dust was lost at words, still taken aback by the sudden appearance of this Kangaskhan. He had read about their species before but never seen one himself.

The Kangaskhan looked at Dust for a moment before giving a kind smile. "Oh, where are my manners? My name is Carrie, it's nice to meet you, young Absol. What's your name?"

After a couple seconds, he regained his composure. "Ah yes, introduction. My name is Dust. A pleasure to meet you."

"Ah, so you're Dust. The Guild Master told us that an Absol named Dust would be coming here soon," Carrie noted. "If you'd like, I can take you to our Guild Master so you can meet her."

"Yes, that would be best. Thank you." He accepted her offer, glad to receive some help.

Dust noticed that there was no baby in Carrie's pouch, which he found a little odd since every picture he saw of a Kangaskhan always had a baby in their pouch. For once, Dust decided not to ask questions, and just follow the Kangaskhan to meet the Guild Master. The sound of heavy wood scraping against the floor caught his attention. Turning around, he saw the doors he had just entered thru had started to close. He turned back and continued to follow Carrie, wondering what kind of guild he'd have to endure before he could return home.

What Dust didn't realize at the time, was that this was his first step into a grand adventure.


	2. Chapter 2: A New Partner

**DarkfoxKit:** Hello, everyone. So, it looks like the first chapter was off to a pretty good start. Now we get to finally meet the Guild Master of Unity Guild, and Dust's partner.

**Travelling Master: **From the sound of it, it seems as though you guys enjoyed the first chapter so far. Glad to know that we were able to grab your attention. Hope we can keep entertaining you folks.

**DarkFoxKit:** We are also still getting used to working with each other on a real story, so the grammar and tenses are a working progress. So now, let's get into-

**Dust: **Hold it! Before you two start and head off, I want to know why you two decided to have me kicked out of my guild. I was doing fine until you two decided to show up.

**DarkFoxKit:** You… kinda did that to yourself with all your experiments exploding… heck, you're lucky we did show up when we did, otherwise you would've been kicked out into the streets. Also… Travelling Master, how did Dust get in here?

**Travelling Master: ***Shrugs* I don't know.

**Dust: **That's not important, granted, I guess I am somewhat...grateful to at least be at another guild instead of the streets. If I have to go through this ordeal, please tell me I'll at least have a strong partner, or someone who will help me gain Gold Rank within a year.

**DarkFoxKit:** … Um… Dust, you know we can't do that, especially here, right? It'd be spoilery, and also, you need to get back into the story.

**Dust: **Very well. But only because I'm also curious to see how this guild is.

**Travelling Master: **Arlight, now get back to your story, the readers are just as curious as you are. Seriously, I don't even know how he got here.

**DarkFoxKit:** Why do I get the feeling this isn't going to be a one time occurence?

* * *

**Chapter 2: A New Partner**

Dust was surprised at seeing a lot of different kinds of Pokemon as Carrie the Kangaskhan lead him through the guild. There were Pokemon Dust didn't expect to see in a guild, like the weaker version of Farfetch'd with the small leeks that can't even evolve, Dunsparce, Bidoof, and the like. What surprised him even more was how they weren't talking about him. Whenever he's been around any Pokemon at his old guild he always heard their snide remarks.

The Pokemon around Dust didn't seem to care about him. A few did give him curious looks, but they didn't say anything bad about him, if they did say something, they mostly wondered if he was a new guild recruit.

"Um, Carrie? Has anyone else heard about me or my arrival?" Dust asked the Kangaskhan.

"Only me and the Guild Master. Why? Were you popular back at your old home?" Carrie half joked with him.

"Something like that. I noticed that there are lots of...peculiar Pokemon here. I wasn't expecting to see such a variety."

Carrie chuckled. "I guess you don't know our reputation then. I will let our Guild Master explain it."

Carrie stopped in front of a double set of doors. Dust suspected those doors led into the Guild Master's room, and he expected the Kangaskhan to give him a serious lecture about being on his best behavior around the Guild Master, but Carrie didn't do that, instead, she just gave him a knowing grin before she opened the double doors.

"Chihiro! I brought the Absol named Dust here!" Carrie called out as she walked into the room.

A voice called back to her. "An Absol? Are you ABSOLutely sure?" The sound of laughter was soon followed.

"Please, Chihiro, contain your puns or you'll scare Dust away," Carrie grumbled.

Dust hesitantly walked into the room, seeing a baby Kangaskhan running around with two small ghost-like dragon Pokemon, they were called 'Dreepy' if Dust remembered right. There was a much bigger ghost dragon floating not too far away.

"Ah Dust, I was wondering when you would be arriving. Please don't mind the young ones, they just choose when and where to play." Chihiro gave a friendly smile. "As you've probably heard Carrie say, my name is Chihiro, I'm a Dragapult in case you didn't know, and I'm the Guild Master of the Unity Guild."

"I've only read about your kind, but never seen one before. I must say, this is a privilege," Dust stated.

Chihiro smiled back. "Good, now let's begin. I've heard a lot about you from the Olympus Guild's Guild Master. How you were quite the social pariah, yet you are also the son of a Master Rank Crusader called Eclipse."

Dust decided to try something. "Ah yes, my mother. Since we are on the topic, I was hoping we could establish what rank I will be placed in. So I was thinking perhaps I can start off as, oh, I don't know? Maybe Gold Rank? Seems very reasonable, if I do say so myself."

Both Chihiro and Carrie stared at him for a few seconds before bursting into laughter. Dust was caught off guard, he was in no way being funny and never intended it as a joke.

Carrie managed to stop laughing. "And I thought Chihiro's puns were bad."

"You're not ranked by who you're connected or related to, young Absol, you're ranked by your skills and how you've completed your missions. And according to your skills and your mission completions from your old guild, you are definitely a Normal Rank," Chihiro informed.

"Normal?!" Dust shouted out loud. "But that's the lowest rank. I can't start at Normal Rank!"

"Sorry...not really. Those are the rules." Chihiro stated, but then an idea came to her mind. "But I do have to admit, I was a little skeptical when I saw all those reports about you. Maybe they might've exaggerated some bits and pieces here and there. So tell you what, we'll give you a little test."

"What test?" Dust asked.

"We recently got a new recruit before you came in today, she just got here a few nights ago and haven't yet been able to go on a mission or get a partner yet," Chihiro explained. "This is the perfect timing. She can be your partner for this test mission I plan to send you on."

"Oh," he stated both with hope and worry. Hopeful that he would be able to get a higher rank from this test, but worried about who this partner will be. "So what kind of test will this be?"

"It'll be a simple retrieve a lost item mission," Chihiro said. "Carrie will give you the details. She will also lead you to your new partner."

"Right this way, last I saw, your new partner was in the cafeteria," Carrie said before she started to walk away.

Dust turned to Carrie and started to follow. He looked at the baby Kangaskhan and the two Dreepy who were looking at him curiously.

"One more thing." Chihiro called out, catching his attention. When he turned, she was suddenly up close, staring intently into his mismatched eyes. "By chance, do you know who your father is?"

Caught off guard by the sudden question, he slowly replied, "No...I don't. Um, why?"

"Oh, no reason. Just curious, that's all." Chihiro shrugged.

Dust frowned a little, but decided it was best not to think about it, and followed Carrie out of the room. Carrie lead Dust into the cafeteria, a place where a lot of Pokemon were eating food. There were all sorts of different types of berries, gummies, and even meat for the more carnivorous Pokemon. There were also tables and chairs. There were bigger chairs for the bigger Pokemon, and smaller chairs for the smaller Pokemon. Dust looked around, curious to who his partner was going to be.

"Let's see… ah, there she is." Carrie smiled before she started to walk forward, she seemingly started to approach a goofy looking Bidoof that was munching on a large apple.

The look of dread came across Dust's face as he whispered to himself. "You can't be serious..."

Dust read about Bidoof, they weren't very strong Pokemon, even when they evolve. They were notorious for eating a lot of food, to the point that they could rival a Munchlax, and could be taken out pretty easily in battle.

However, Carrie started to walk past the Bidoof, which surprised Dust, while also making him relieved. Dust followed Carrie, trying to see who Carrie was actually walking to. Dust noticed something purple and green up ahead. Carrie's body was blocking most of the Pokemon's body, however.

"Would you like to meet your new partner?" Carrie asked the Pokemon.

"Huh? Oh, uh… sure," A shy feminine voice answered.

Carrie moved aside, finally allowing Dust to see who it was.

He gasped after getting a better view. He had only seen pictures of the green and purple slime-like dragon before. He was most interested in the properties of the slime that covered slimy Pokemon and their kind.

"A Goomy…" He mostly whispered to himself. "Now that is rare."

There were blue gummies and fruit on the table beside the Goomy. The Goomy was looking at Dust, she was a decently sized Goomy, not very small, not very big, she appeared to be around Dust's age if not a little younger. She gave Dust a nervous look, however, her antennas were stiff.

"O-oh my… an Absol? A-are you sure, Mrs. Carrie? I-I mean an Absol is… I don't know if we'd be a good fit together…" The Goomy nervously said.

"Nonsense!" Dust answered before Carrie could, already getting excited to be working with a dragon Pokemon. "I'd say we make a perfect team. I can already imagine it! Now for introductions, you may call me Dust and I look forward to working with you."

The Goomy blinked at Dust, shocked at how the Absol was acting. After about a few seconds for the Goomy to recover from the shock, she spoke up. "Uhh… well… hi, I guess. You… can call me Berry…"

"Both of you are new members of the Unity Guild, and you are both beginners at Normal Rank," Carrie explained. "And neither of you two have a partner, so the Guild Master figured it would be good to pair you two up together for your first mission."

"Don't forget to mention that depending on how we do on this mission, we will most likely gain a higher rank." Dust added.

"Gain a higher rank?" Berry asked, sounding confused. "But… it's only our first mission."

"Exactly, there's no reason for us to only start as Normal Rank. So the Guild Master was generous enough to give us this opportunity to prove ourselves." He said with confidence.

Berry didn't look very confident, her antennas drooped down.

"Come follow me, I will show you where you'll normally go to get your missions," Carrie informed, getting the two's attention.

Carrie started to walk away, Dust started to follow her before he looked back at Berry, seeing her opening her mouth that stretched out to enormous size, and consumed the rest of the gummies and fruits she had on the table, quickly swallowing them before she began to slither forward to follow Carrie, though she was pretty slow. He tried to be nice by waiting for her, but he couldn't hide his excitement nor his impatience. He never knew that Goomy would be this slow.

Berry noticed Dust's excitement, and she looked down in shame, hating herself for being born without feet or the ability to slither as fast as a Serperior.

After a while, Dust decided to walk ahead to catch up to Carrie. Carrie was waiting in the main room of the guild. She was standing in front of a bulletin board that had a lot of papers tact on to it.

"Where's your partner?" Carrie asked Dust.

"Oh, she's on her way. I did wait for her, but I didn't want to lose sight of you either. I made sure to stay long enough for her to see where I was going." He replied back.

Carrie didn't say anything for a moment, and gave Dust an analyzing look. "I guess we will wait for her then."

Dust was annoyed at first, but decided it was for the best. After about a minute of waiting, the Goomy finally made it to the bulletin board, she looked a little tired, and embarrassed that it took her so long to get there.

"S-sorry… I really wish I was hatched with feet…" Berry mumbled.

"You don't have to apologize, you're all good." Carrie smiled while Dust tilted his head, confused by Berry's remark.

Dust then shrugged it off, chucking it up to the Goomy just wanting to be faster.

"Now that you're both here, it's time to give you two your first mission," Carrie began, before she took a piece of paper out from the bulletin board. "The client is asking for help to find his stalk. He's a Farfetch'd by the way, and he needs his stalk. He said that he last saw it in the Dusk Forest. The mission is ranked E, so it's an easy mission in an easy Mystery Dungeon."

"A Mystery Dungeon? I'm surprised, aren't those dangerous for beginners like us to go to?" Berry asked nervously. "Considering the very twisted natures of Mystery Dungeons, even a small one…"

"Worry not, while true, Mystery Dungeons come in many shapes and sizes. I remember reading a book or two about them. In the past we had explorers whose main job was to go through these dungeons themselves to see how dangerous each one is. While some were more safe than others, the most interesting part was that every time they entered the same dungeon, they noted that the interior was always different. Now it goes on to explain how-"

Carrie decided to cut him off, feeling that he would go on for hours on the topic. "Thank you, Dust, for the information. But what he said is true, you shouldn't worry, Berry, like I said, this mission is only ranked E."

Carrie then began to walk to a desk that was in the middle between two bulletin boards. A male Meowstic was sitting at the desk.

"Now, once you pick out your mission, normally you're supposed to come to this mission registration desk to be approved of the mission. It's also so lesser ranks don't accidentally take jobs that are way out of their league. You would have to show them your badge so they know which rank you're in. But since you two aren't an official team yet, and don't have your badges, I'll get the mission approved for you," Carrie explained.

While Carrie spoke with the Meowstic, Dust took this time to get to know his partner a bit more. "So Berry, I must admit, I was not expecting to have someone like you as my partner. It's not everyday one would meet someone like you."

Berry frowned, not seeming sure on how to take Dust's comments about her. "... No… I guess not… I… also didn't expect to have an Absol as a partner… let alone one with… unique eye colors."

"Oh, you mean my right blue eye?" He pointed at it with his claw. "Well your guess is as good as mine, though if I would have to guess myself, it would most likely be from having parents of two kinds, thus making me a mixed breed."

"I kind of like it," Berry admitted. "I… think I'm also a mixed breed, considering how I… um… well, you could probably guess."

Dust was caught off guard, he had been used to everyone always making remarks about his mismatched eyes, but never had anyone actually complimented it. "Uh...right. And sorry to say, but can't really guess much about your kind, I've never seen your species before outside of pictures in a book, and there isn't much research about them. But I do hope after this mission I'd have obtained new information about your kind."

Berry looked rather confused at that, though she didn't speak directly to Dust, she did mumble something to herself. "Didn't think my kind was _that_ hard to find. We're pretty much everywhere…"

"Alright, took some explaining, but everything is set and ready to go." Carrie caught their attention, turning away from the Meowstic. "I just need your bag, and we'll give you a temporary one."

Dust clutched his bag, not wanting to part with it. "But why?"

"You are being tested on this mission. We need to see how you two would perform on your first mission. Don't worry, once you finished this mission, you'll get your bag back." She explained.

He was reluctant at first, but thought if it was the only way and was temporary, he can part with his bag. Taking it off, he gave Carrie the bag and took the temporary bag, seeing that it only contained a few berries, an orb, and two apples.

"You're free to pick up any items you find in the Mystery Dungeon and put them into the bag," Carrie informed. "Those are just the essentials you'll likely need for your test mission. The Mystery Dungeon can make you hungry quicker, so use the apples when you need to, or find any food you can consume in the dungeon. If you get knocked out in the Mystery Dungeon, you will lose all your items and any Poke you found. At that point, it would be best to get back to the guild. Now, if you two are ready, head on out of the guild and show this paper to one of the Carriages, they will take you where you'll need to go."

Dust and Berry nodded, taking their leave. Luckily the exit wasn't too far, so Dust didn't have to wait too long for his partner. Once the two were outside, they saw two familiar Ponyta waiting by a carriage.

"Oh, seriously? We got the same Absol?" The female Fire type Ponyta groaned.

"Oh, it's you two!" The male Psychic type Ponyta smiled.

"Oh… hey Sunny… hey Twilight…" Berry timidly greeted, looking at the Fire type Ponyta when she called her 'Sunny', and at the Psychic type Ponyta when she called him 'Twilight'.

"Ah, so those are your names." Dust chimed in.

"Out of all those endless questions you asked, our names were not one of them," Sunny grumbled.

"Yes, sorry about that. I was just taken aback by the whole scenery, you two being different types despite being the same kind of Pokemon. Asking for your names honestly slipped my mind." He said.

Twilight just gave an amused smile. "Well, now you know our names. So, where is your destination this time?"

Dust took the paper from his test bag out with his paw. Twilight's horn glowed as he used his Psychic powers to lift the paper up to his and Sunny's face.

"The Dusk Forest, huh? You know why it's called that?" Sunny asked. "The forest is dense enough to block out a lot of sunlight, but it should be safe as long as you don't go too deep into it."

"I don't think we'll have to go in too deep… at least, I hope not…" Berry frowned.

"I actually hope we do. Sound fascinating that a dungeon would have a trees thick enough to block out sunlight. Imagine how the environment must adapt to these changes. How the wildlife must act in accordance to the time of day and how much light they actually can get." Dust excitedly explained.

"Any deeper and it would no longer be a ranked E mission, Dust," Berry informed. "We're only supposed to go up to 5 floors at most before leaving."

"I suppose you're right. Still though, one can't help but wonder what secrets the dungeon must hold." He said out loud, though mostly to himself.

Twilight brought the mission paper back over to Dust. "Well, if you're ready, get into the carriage and we'll take you there."

As Dust hopped on the carriage, Sunny grumbled to herself. "It was supposed to be a simple day. We drop off this Absol and we get the day off, but no. We get called back to do more work. You two better not take all day to finish this mission."

The young Absol looked down at the Goomy, seeing she couldn't hop into the carriage like he could, instead, she slithered herself closer to the carriage before lifting up the bottom of her gooey body to slide onto the walls of the carriage, then slithered up onto the carriage herself. Dust had never seen how a Goomy would get into the carriage before, so he enjoyed watching that.

"Oh, stop complaining, Sunny, this means we get paid more," Twilight said.

Sunny rolled her eyes before they both started moving, going to their new destination.

It would be some time until they reach their destination, so Dust took the opportunity to ask more questions. "So Berry, I have some questions I would like to ask you, if you don't mind." But before Berry could answer, he continued on. "Good, so first question. Are there more of your kind nearby? Or did you travel here by yourself?"

"Um… well… I think I had a brother who came to the Unity Guild before I did, but I haven't seen him. However, I did travel here by myself," Berry answered.

"Interesting. Oh I wish I had my notes with me, I'll have to rely on memory. Anyways, next question. The slime coming off your body, does it match the slime of others of your kind? Or do you all produce different slime? Following that question, if your kind do produce different kinds of slime, would some of them be flammable? And following that, may I take some samples to perform some tests with your slime?" He spoke quickly, faster with each question.

Berry shook her head. "Slow down, please, I can't remember all these questions at once! What was the first thing you wanted to know? Something about slime?"

Dust laughed to himself. "My bad. Yes, it was about slime. You see, I've only read briefly on your kind. As I said before, there isn't much knowledge concerning your species. But one thing that it did mention was the unique slime covering your body, but even then, there still wasn't enough information on that subject. Since we are partners, I thought it would be a perfect chance to learn more about your slime properties."

Berry blinked, giving Dust a look of disbelief for a moment. "Jeez, if you want to know about the slime that badly, I don't see why you couldn't have just read another book or something about my kind. The slime that we secrete is full of toxins, so it wouldn't be a good idea to get it all over your body. And… that's about all I know."

"Interesting. I only thought that Wooper and their kind were the only non-Poison types that had toxic traits within their slime. I didn't read too much on it, but now I wish I did. Would've never guessed that others could share that trait."

"I don't know if any other Pokemon does share that trait that aren't Poison types," Berry said, shrugging, as much as a Goomy could shrug. "I only know that Wooper and Quagsire does because my entire family are Wooper and Quagsire."

"Hmm, if you've been surrounded by Wooper and Quagsire your whole life, that would explain how your slime has toxic properties. But now that leads to my next question. Why were you with a group of Wooper and Quagsire? Did you get separated from your kind when you were young?" Dust asked, glad to be learning so much from Berry.

"Um… I'm not sure what you're talking about," Berry said, looking confused. "I hatched in a Quagsire's nest, and I was never separated from them, well, unless you count me leaving them to join the Unity Guild. Okay, I know I don't look like a Wooper, but I am indeed a Wooper. I was hatched as a defect, likely because my mixed genes messed up my body somehow…"

Dust just had a confused look, unsure if Berry was joking with him. He was about to answer, but then the carriage stopped in front of a forest, the trees already thick, their foliage covering each other's branches. Dust recalled the forest like Dungeon he and his mother were in before, but it didn't compare to how dense these trees were.

"Alright, welcome to the Duck Forest." Twilight pointed with his right hoof. "Just remember, don't go in too deep. Wouldn't want you two to run into any trouble with the wild Pokemon there."

"I'd say let them. They seem confident enough." Sunny joked.

"No! No, no, no, no way!" Berry suddenly said, shivering. "I've heard wild Pokemon get stronger the deeper you go into Dusk Forest. I don't want to fail the mission because we went too far."

"Normally I wouldn't pass up a chance to go further in and study what secrets the dungeon would have, but you do have a point. If we perform this mission to the best of our abilities, we will most likely gain a high rank deserving of our skills." Dust added.

Berry frowned a little, before shaking her head. "Maybe you would, but I'm definitely only a Normal Rank Pokemon. I have little experience in battle, and I'm not exactly a powerhouse."

"Not to worry, I've only been in two dungeons myself, one of them only recently, and I say with our combined skills we should be fine." Dust said as he hopped down from the carriage.

Berry didn't seem so sure, but she didn't argue and slithered down from the carriage herself.

Dust smiled as he looked into the entrance of Dusk Forest, and into the Mystery Dungeon it held inside. The young Absol turned to the Goomy, seeing that she was still slithering towards him. Still focusing on the main goal, Dust hid his impatience with his partner.

When Berry finally caught up to Dust, she looked at the entrance to the Dusk Forest. "Um… okay, so… I guess we should go on in… um… let's be careful, Mystery Dungeons have a way of keeping you trapped if you don't know where you're going."

"And careful we'll be." Dust mostly said, hoping to convince her. "After you."

Berry nervously started to slither forward, which felt slower due to Dust's eagerness to get into the dungeon. Dust started to wonder if maybe he would've been better off with a faster Dragon type, like a Bagon or Dratini, not that there were a lot of Dragon types just hanging around in any guild. He soon followed after, into the dense forest dungeon.

* * *

**Dusk Forest 1F**

Now the two of them were in the Mystery Dungeon. It was pretty dim despite it being morning. There was something about the dungeon that felt different and off from the previous dungeons Dust had been in, but Dust couldn't put his claw on it.

"We just got here, and the place already feels like a complete maze," Berry mumbled before she looked at Dust. "If I remember right, teams usually choose someone to be the leader and navigate them through the Mystery Dungeon. Since you have more experience with dungeons than I do, maybe you should be the leader. I'm not sure how good I would be in a Mystery Dungeon myself."

Dust thought to himself for a minute. He normally worked by himself, so there was no need for a leader, but he nodded slowly to his partner. "I suppose so, plus I'm sure it'll be a great learning experience."

Dust started to move ahead, almost forgetting how slow his partner was. So he adjusted his speed, much to his annoyance, so that Berry could keep up with him.

Berry was trying hard to move faster, she was sweating a little trying to move at a decent pace for a fast Pokemon like Dust.

The two of them moved a little slowly through the dungeon. They found a few berries that would come in handy, so Dust picked them up and put them in the bag he was carrying.

As they continued through the dungeon, Berry's antennas twitched a little before she spoke up. "Wait… a minute… Dust! I… think there's… a wild Pokemon… up ahead…"

Berry was panting from having to move faster than her usual pace, though Dust hardly noticed. "Really, fascinating. Which reminds me, were you joking about you being a Wooper earlier?"

Dust had stopped when he asked Berry the question, which made Berry grateful for the small break, allowing her to catch her breath a little. "Why… would I joke… about that?"

"Well….You know." Dust said while pointing at her entire body. "You don't exactly look like a Wooper for one. And I'm pretty sure you are a Goomy, I mean I've only seen a few pictures of your kind in some books, and yes they do share some similar qualities to a Wooper, but I assure you, you are not a Wooper."

Berry looked at Dust in a questioning gaze. "I know I don't look like a Wooper. Everyone pretty much says that. But that is what I am. I don't know what a 'Goomy' is, unless that's another word for 'defective Wooper', where we look so defective that we're labelled as a different species entirely."

"You don't know what a Goomy is? How? You _are_ a Goomy!" Dust shouted that last bit, alerting the nearby presence that Berry had sensed earlier.

"Keep your voice down!" Berry hissed. "Do you want every wild Pokemon in the forest to hear you? Besides, why would I know what a Goomy is? This is the first time I've ever heard of that name. Or maybe that's a new insult you came up with for me."

He ignored her warning and instead was more focused on Berry not knowing what she is. "Why would calling you what you are be an insult? And how have you never heard of being a Goomy before? I mean yes, they are rare, but so are every other Dragon type out there."

"Dragon type? My family and I had never seen a real Dragon type before, we've only heard about them through stories. I also know only a few of them because of how famous they are as Crusaders, and 'Goomy' certainly wasn't one of them," Berry said before she gave a sigh. "Oh, I get it, you're hoping to pump me up by telling me I'm a Dragon type so I could perform better and help get you in a higher rank."

Dust was about to respond when there was a sudden growl that came from behind him. Turning around, he saw a small red and green like bug Pokemon facing the duo. Despite being a wild Pokemon, Dust couldn't help but be interested by this creature.

"Interesting, I've never seen a Pokemon like you before." Dust said with no concern.

"Dust, that's a Venipede, don't get too close to it!" Berry warned. "They're likely to poison you."

Dust scoffed. "I highly doubt that. Plus, we've given it no reason to be hostile. I'm sure we can easily pass by without any needed violence."

The Venipede let out an aggressive hiss as it started to approach them. "Venipede, Ven! Veni!"

"Oh, how I wish I had my bag with me." Dust turned to Berry, disregarding the Venipede. "Did you know that wild Pokemon have a unique form of dialect? I've been actually-"

"Dust! Look out!" Berry suddenly shouted, interrupting Dust's explanation.

The angry Venipede jumped onto Dust's back, and started to bite him with its mouth, using the move Bug Bite, which did super effective damage on a Dark type like Dust. The sharp pain in his back made Dust jump back, hoping that it would shake it off, but the Venipede held on.

"Get it off! This stings really bad!" Dust shouted, jumping back and forth.

"Hold still!" Berry yelled as she shot out Water Gun from her mouth, constantly missing due to Dust's bucking and moving around.

Finally, the Goomy managed to hit something with her Water Gun, but she only managed to hit Dust in the face with it, soaking him. Berry sighed as Dust began to shake his head to try to dry off, while he was doing that, Berry managed to get a clear shot at the Venipede, hitting it with a Water Gun, and causing it to let go and fall off of Dust's back. The Venipede hissed in anger.

"A-are you okay?" Berry asked Dust in concern.

"I'll be fine." He winced a bit after moving his back. "Probably sting for a while, thanks for getting it off."

The Venipede suddenly shot out purple needles at them. Berry yelped as her gooey body was hit by the needles. "Ouch! Knock it off!"

The Venipede didn't let up, but Dust jumped in front of Berry while covering both of them with a white dome-like barrier, knocking away the Poison Sting attack.

"So Venipede, I assume is a Bug type. Would you know any moves super effective against it?" Dust asked while keeping the barrier up.

"No. I only have Tackle, Water Gun, and... Absorb for some reason, none of them are super effective against Bug or Poison types," Berry answered. "Venipede are Bug and Poison type by the way. If you're wondering how I know this, there were quite a few of them back home."

"Oh, you must tell me more once we have time. Hmm...I'm faster than you, I can distract the Venipede and you can hit it with your water attack." Dust suggested.

"I will try, though you should try to attack it too, you have stronger attacks than I do," Berry replied.

"Uh...about that...funny thing. I've never really fought before." Dust chuckled out loud.

"What!?" Berry shouted in shock.

Dust's Protect soon ended, and the white barrier faded away. The Venipede curled into a ball and started to roll towards them, using Rollout. Without thinking, Dust picked up Berry, putting her on her back as he jumps out of the way. The Venipede quickly turned around, heading towards the duo again. Instead of facing the wild Pokemon, Dust turned around and ran away.

Venipede was giving chase. Berry, turning around from Dust's back, shot out another Water Gun attack at the Venipede, causing it to be pushed back a few feet until it hit a tree behind it. The Venipede let out pained hissing before it got back on its feet and scurried away somewhere.

"I think the Venipede decided we were too much trouble," Berry said to Dust when she saw the Venipede leaving them alone.

Dust breathed heavily. "Good...Now...can you be so...kind as to get off. No offense, but this feels _really_ gross."

Berry frowned a little before she hopped off of Dust's back, her body practically sploshing onto the ground. "If I was normal, I'd be able to stop my slime from oozing out on you, but for some reason I'm always releasing slime from my deformed body."

Dust shook his body, trying to get the slime off his fur. "Like I said, it's because you're a Goomy. Their kind are known to constantly secrete slime from their body."

"So you know about my… situation? I didn't realize there were others like me out there. I guess they really do have their own category then," Berry sighed.

"Oh, well that's one way of putting it. And what's more, if I'm not mistaken, I believe I see some staircase up ahead." Dust pointed further down the forest.

The two of them slowly, to Dust, made their way to the staircase. In Mystery Dungeons, each floor will always have a staircase that lead either up or down that goes further into the dungeon. Nobody knew how or why Mystery Dungeons had mon made things like staircases inside them, it was considered one of the many mysterious things about Mystery Dungeons.

"Must make you wonder." Dust said as he examined the staircase. "Mystery Dungeons truly live up to their names, no amount of research could explain how staircases work within these dungeons. Hopefully the stalk will be close by on the next floor."

"They say that if you go up those stairs, any item or Pokemon you leave behind will be lost forever in the constantly changing nature of the dungeon, it's why civilized Pokemon always need to post a rescue request to guilds to be saved, or lost items to be found and retrieved." Berry shivered. "Though I don't know if that's actually true or if the story was exaggerated due to getting lost and separated being easy in a Mystery Dungeon."

"Hmm...Well I'm sure they were exaggerated. We shouldn't have to worry about that. Now enough dilly dallying, we've got a stalk to find." Dust stated as he climbed up the stairs.

* * *

**Dusk Forest 2F**

When Dust was at the top of the stairs, he saw the forest was getting darker and harder to see. He looked back, seeing Berry slowly slithering up the stairs. Dust sighed to himself. _At the rate we're going, we're not going to find that stalk until midnight. Maybe if I went on ahead I can find either the stalk or staircase quicker and come back for Berry._

Thinking more on it, he smiled at how brilliant his plan was. "Hey Berry, I'm going on ahead. I'll come back once I either find the stalk or staircase."

"What? You're going on alone? But that's dangerous, we need to stick together, especially in a Mystery Dungeon," Berry protested.

But it was too late, Dust had already left, assuming that Berry was okay with his plan.

"Hey! Come back!" Berry called out when she realized the Absol had already left.

Now alone, the nervous Goomy's antennas went stiff as she looked around in anxiety. "I… I can't do this alone…"

Meanwhile, Dust was happy to be able to move as fast as he wanted through the Mystery Dungeon, unaware of his partner's worry and anxiety. "Feels good to go at a quick pace. I'll find that stalk in no time."

Dust did run into a wild Taillow along the way, which he was able to knock out pretty quickly by shooting out a beam of ice at the Flying type. The Taillow was quickly frozen and hit the ground hard, allowing Dust to continue his way. Dust would just run away from other wild Pokemon that he couldn't take down quickly. He soon found the staircases.

He was about to go up them when he recalled the words of Berry concerning Mystery Dungeons. _Well it would be risky to go up these without Berry, but… _He then recalled how slow Berry was, and the only way to make any pace would be for him to carry her on his back. He shuddered at the thought, remembering the slimy touch on his body.

_She did say they were probably exaggerated...She should be fine. She is a Dragon type after all, I'm sure she can take care of herself. _And with that, he walked up the steps, leaving his partner behind on the floor.

* * *

**Dusk Forest 5F**

Dust went through floors 3 and 4 rather quickly. He noticed that after he had defeated the Venipede and the Taillow earlier, he felt faster and stronger. He was able to take out the weaker Pokemon pretty easily like the Caterpie, Weedle, and Pidgey that he found in those floors. Dust smiled a little, realizing this must be what it was like to get stronger, or 'level up' as some would call it.

He spoke to himself while he continued going through the dungeon floor. "I guess this is how my mother feels like...Actually feels good. Something to definitely remember once I return to my old guild."

It wasn't long until Dust came to an open area surrounded by thick threes. Slowing down his pace, he crossed the field and almost tripped when his paw got caught on something. Looking down, he noticed a green leek-like stick that he recognized as the Farfetch'd stalk.

"Finally, took longer than I thought, but the end results are still the same." Dust said out loud to no one. "Now I just need to find my way back to Berry and we can be on our way."

Dust frowned a little, wondering how he was going to get out of the dungeon. His mother always used her Crusader's badge to teleport them out of a dungeon, which was something he didn't have. Then Dust remembered Carrie had given him items she would think were necessary for their trip. Dust decided to look into the bag to see if there was anything useful. Dust dug out a small, blue orb that was buried under all the berries he collected, and the two apples he and Berry were supposed to eat if they got hungry in the dungeon.

Dust noticed the orb had a small label on it, which read 'Escape Orb'.

"Hmm, seems simple enough. Should work the same as my mother's badge, so if I use this, Berry will be teleported out as well," Dust concluded.

He prepared to use the orb when something caught his eye. At the far edge of the field, a staircase had appeared. He was sure that there was no other staircase when he first got here. He recalled hearing about how the wild Pokemon in the dungeon supposedly grew stronger and more dangerous the deeper the forest went, but his curiosity was growing with each passing second. Dust was able to handle a few wild Pokemon on the previous floors, he can surely handle himself if he went deeper into the dungeon.

_I don't have to go in too far. If the Pokemon are getting too strong for me, I'll just use the Escape Orb._ Dust decided.

Dust started to head for the staircase, however, as he got closer, he heard what sounded like howling in the distance. He stopped for a moment, before shrugging, thinking it was some wild Poochyena using Howl from somewhere, and kept going. As he got closer to the staircase, however, the howling got louder and more ominous.

"Uh...maybe I should turn back." Dust slowly turned around to go back, but then noticed a thick fog started covering the area. "What? Where did this fog come from?"

He relied on his memory, crossing the field, but the fog had completely covered the field. Despite the howling going silent, Dust couldn't help but feel prying eyes on him. "Okay...maybe I should use the Escape Orb now."

Dust then noticed the staircase through the fog, he had somehow gotten turned around and had gotten closer to the stairs.

Dust stared at the staircase for a moment. _Maybe there won't be any fog on the next floor… I mean weather changes all the time on different floors, right?_

The Absol was about to head for the stairs when suddenly, a shadow appeared in the fog, and walked towards him with heavy footprints. Dust's blue and red eyes widened in shock when he saw a tall wolf-like Pokemon with blue fur staring down at him. The Pokemon looked beaten up, it was missing half an ear, and looked scratched up. It also had a couple of long, pink, antenna-like braided hair, its legs were white, the claws were sharp and black, its eyes were a piercing yellow.

Dust was at a loss for words. There were many Pokemon he hadn't seen before, but none compared to this mysterious beast in front of him. His instincts were telling him to run, but his legs were frozen in place, refusing to obey his commands. The Pokemon walked closer to him, never taking its eyes off Dust.

The wolf Pokemon gave a loud howl, and yet, he only heard the whispering of words. "Turn back."

The fog suddenly became heavier, so heavy that Dust could barely see the wolf Pokemon, though he could still make out its figure.

He managed to shake off some of his shock. "Wait! Don't go!" He didn't know why, but he had so many questions rushing through his head.

The fog grew thicker, Dust couldn't even see his own paws anymore.

"Turn back." The wolf howled once more before everything grew silent.

* * *

Meanwhile, Berry was shivering as she was hiding from a wild Sewaddle underwater. Berry was thankful she was a Water type and could breathe underwater, at least her defective body didn't hamper her ability to breathe underwater. Berry knew how dangerous Grass types were to her kind, being Water and Ground type. Berry never had to fight a Grass type before, but she knew one little Grass attack would be enough to knock her out in the Mystery Dungeon.

_What should I do? I can't leave until that Sewaddle loses interest, if I try to get away I'm pretty slow, that Sewaddle is very fast, it would catch me in no time._ Berry frowned.

Deciding to see if the Sewaddle was still there, the nervous Goomy dared to lift her head above the water. She didn't see the Sewaddle anywhere. Believing she was safe, Berry slithered out from the water, sighing in relief. Then her stomach growled.

"I have no food… Dust had all our items…" Berry sighed, her antennas drooping. "He's been gone for a while… did he leave me behind?"

She looked around a bit more, seeing no other Pokemon nearby. Part of her hoped that Dust would come back. Sure, he was different from any Absol she imagined before, and he kept on insisting she was some sort of 'Goomy.' Berry believed that 'Goomy' was likely a term for defective Wooper, and she gathered Dust was one of those know-it-all smart Pokemon, so that was why he kept insisting he should call her a 'Goomy'. But she had accepted that, and it was nice to actually talk with someone who treated her nicely.

Berry was so deep in thought that she failed to notice the heavy fog coming in. It was only the sound of a deep howl echoing through the forest that snapped her out of it.

Berry looked up, and noticed the fog, and was immediately on guard. She quickly looked around. _W-where did this fog come from? What was that howl? Is there a pack of Poochyena nearby?_

The howling grew louder and louder. In the fog, Berry could make some sort of shadowy figure making its way towards her. As it got closer, Berry was able to see that is was a large wolf like Pokemon, but one she had never seen before. Its body covered in scars, patches of blue and red fur were missing, one of its ears were missing the top half. Its black claws beneath the white and blue legs were already intimidating enough, but not as intimidating as the golden eyes staring right at her. The wolf also looked like it had a thick red and blue mane around its neck.

Berry's body was so stiff that, for once, it felt like her body stopped secreting slime. She felt close to passing out from how terrified she was at how close this powerful looking Pokemon was to her. She also had some tears falling from her terrified eyes. _Oh my Mew! I'm going to die!_

The Pokemon let out a deep howl, yet the words were whispering. "Be not afraid."

Berry was too scared to say anything. _H-how can I not be afraid? You could just swallow me whole if you wanted to!_

The fog started to thicken, making it harder for Berry to see the intimidating wolf Pokemon. As though the Pokemon knew what Berry was thinking, it howled again, louder than before. "Be not afraid."

The wolf went silent as the fog thickened, covering everything in Berry's sight.

* * *

Dust blinked open his eyes, not sure when he had them closed, and was surprised and relieved to see both the fog and the strange wolf Pokemon was gone. Another strange thing was that he was back at the Dusk Forest's entrance, just outside of the Mystery Dungeon.

"Ugh…" Dust heard someone groaning not too far away.

"Am I dead…?" The familiar voice asked.

Dust turned to see Berry slowly waking up. "I don't believe so...Though death would be an interesting experience to go through."

Berry shook herself, snapping out of her grogginess and looked at Dust. "You're back! Why did you leave me behind like that? I thought I was going to be stuck in the dungeon forever and starve to death!"

Dust got up, slightly shaking his body. "Well in the end we managed to somehow get out, so I say it was nothing to worry about. Plus, I got the stalk. So I say mission accomplished."

The Absol took the leek-like stalk out from his bag, glad to see it was still there.

"That isn't the point, you still left me behind. I told you I don't have a lot of experience with fighting." Berry frowned. "Did you… really not care?"

Dust scratched under his chin. "I wouldn't say 'care,' but more as...an alternate solution. I figured since I was faster out of us two, I can retrieve the stalk and return back to you. If it wasn't for that staircase appearing and the thick fog, I would've returned right then and there."

Berry gave Dust an annoyed look. "Well, then here's something you might care about. I saw a mysterious wolf-like Pokemon that was coming towards me before I was engulfed in fog and ended up out here."

"You too?!" He exclaimed. "Same thing happened to me. When I started heading towards the staircase, that's when the thick fog came in. Then I saw a strange wolf-life Pokemon. Shortly after that, the fog became too thick and next thing I know I'm waking up outside the dungeon."

"You saw a wolf Pokemon as well? Either we were both hallucinating, or those wolves decided to drop us out of the dungeon for some reason," Berry commented. "I'm hungry by the way."

Before Dust could say anything, the Goomy suddenly jumped at the bag, slithering inside. Dust blinked, not expecting Berry to do that, and she popped her head out, having a big apple in her mouth before she jumped out of the bag. He looked in the bag, somewhat hungry himself but he saw that most of the contents inside were already gone or covered in slime.

"Uh, I'll just eat when we get back to the guild. I'm not sure about you, but I'm looking forward to reporting to Chihiro how successful our mission was. Especially after hearing about our recent discovery. I can imagine that Gold Rank even now." Dust smiled.

Berry decided it was in her best interest not to say anything and just eat her apple in silence.

* * *

**Reviews**

**Shine375****: DarkFoxKit:** Heh, hey there Shine. I'm glad you find the story intriguing. Yeah, Dust isn't exactly what you would call a great guild member or crusader, crusaders are pretty much the explorers of this series. Eclipse won't show up to Dust again for a while, but I'm glad we could intrigue you to their relationship. Feel free to suggest any ideas you have.

**R37uy****: Travelling Master: **Thanks, we have a lot of plans for this story, so you are right when you say that there's potential. Both you and Dust will be very curious about this Goomy, we can promise you that. And I always wanted to try something different from the usual Pokemon Mystery Dungeon trope. Glad that you're looking forward to this story, we promise we have a lot in store for you.

**InfernalzRush****: DarkFoxKit:** Author uses update. It's super effective!

Reader is excited (hopefully)!

Reader is finished.

Author has more chapters but must wait until next week.

Reader uses wait. It's not very effective…

Heh, back to using this. It's quite fun~

**Greatest Gu****y: Travelling Master: **Nothing is sweeter that a good mystery dungeon. As for the story, takes place in a different universe. The only connections this story will have with the game are guilds and mystery dungeons.

**DarkFoxKit:** Storywise, it's vague at the moment. If there are connections to any of the games' story to ours, it would probably be the Explorers series, and it would likely be a legend at this point, or an alternate universe.

**Travelling Master: **True, very true.

**Jewel moonstone****:** **DarkFoxKit:** Apologies, we will try to be better about that. We are still learning to work together, and I'm not the best at wording things myself.

**Travelling Master: **Same, one of my struggles was past and present tense. DarkFoxKit has been helping me a lot while working together.

**Royal Karam****: Travelling Master: **Really glad that you chose to listen to your instinct and check out our story. We have lots of plans for this story. You're just gonna have to wait until next week to see what happens next.

**Warhammer4life****:** **DarkFoxKit:** Thank you, someone PMed me about this as well. Since this is a Pokemon Mystery Dungeon story though, I don't think the slavery part is going to be an issue, since there aren't any humans to 'use' the Pokemon as 'slaves' anyways.

**Traveling Master: **Though wouldn't be surprised if Dust and Berry had to free a group of captured Pokemon or something like that.

**DarkFoxKit:** Yeah, but those are rescue missions, not something of the norm like in most other Pokemon Trainer fanfics. We also won't be discussing Pokegods in the story, they are more just for Pokemon beliefs, like some Pokemon may believe Mew is the real original one, while others believe it's Arceus. And I usually ignore critiques that don't really help and are just being super nit picky about things that aren't technically wrong, like not capitalizing Pokemon's names and such. If these people comment just to tell us this, we'll likely ignore them, but if they start to harass us, then it'll be a real problem.

**Travelling Master: **Everyone is open to their opinions and reviews. And likewise, we are also opened to listen or ignore them as well. Again, thank you for taking your time to share your concerns with us.


	3. Chapter 3: A New Rank and Team

**DarkFoxKit:** Heh… so, while it isn't technically Christmas yet at the time of posting this, Merry Christmas! We had a lot of chapters in reserve, so we thought we could post this as a Christmas present to you all. We do still plan on posting another chapter on Friday, so you get this update twice a week this week.

**Travelling Master: **Yup, we were in the holiday spirit and we wanted to give you guys a little something extra for showing interest in our story. Again, thank you all for taking the time to read our story.

**DarkFoxKit:** So, Traveling Master, what do you plan to do for this year's holiday?

**Travelling Master: **Not much, really. Me and my friend are actually planning on heading out, maybe catch a movie, but not much after that. How about you DarkFoxKit?

**DarkFoxKit:** Probably nothing out of the usual either. I mean I've already gone out of town and visited my family in Arkansas back on Thanksgiving, and I'm not too eager to go back down there again on Christmas. There wasn't a comfortable spot for me to use a laptop, and my laptop actually broke down while I was down there, so I had to use a new/old one.

**Dust:** Alright, enough talk of the holidays! I want to be there when I receive Gold Rank. Then I can return to my old guild and we can put an end to this story. A very deserving happily ever after, if I don't say so my self.

**DarkFoxKit:** … Dude, it's only been like 3 chapters, do you really think the story's going to end here?

**Dust: **I don't see why not.

**Travelling Master: **It doesn't work that… you know what, yeah, let's get started. I'm sure you will be glad to get your rank.

**DarkFoxKit:** Hehe, you obviously don't know how I write~ Okay, let's see what rank you get, Dust.

* * *

**Chapter 3: A New Rank and Team**

It didn't take long for Dust and Berry to return to the Unity Guild with their Carriage. Dust was excited to get to the Guild Master's room and report a job well done. Berry grumbled as she slithered on slowly.

"If you're in a hurry, how about you-" Berry began to suggest until she noticed the Absol was already gone. "... Nevermind… I guess going on ahead works… I'll catch up…" _I don't think this is the best partner for someone like me…_

Dust, deciding that there was no harm in letting Berry catch up this time, hurried to the Guild Master's room, with the stalk safely tucked away in his bag. Reaching the Guild Master's doors, he knocked politely, waiting patiently on the other side.

"Come in." The sound of Chihiro's voice was heard through the door.

Dust opened the door, walking confidently into the room. Sitting behind the desk was the Guild Master, somewhat surprised to see only Dust.

The two Dreepy Dust saw before were floating beside the bigger Dragapault. They looked at Dust in curiosity.

"Dust? Where's your partner?" Chihiro asked.

"Oh, she'll catch up. I thought it would be best to give you our report as soon as possible." Dust pulled out the stalk, placing it on top of the desk.

"Was the dungeon scary?" One of the Dreepy asked.

"Was it fun to explore?" The other Dreepy questioned.

Chihiro picked up the stalk and looked over it for a second. Then she called out, "Arnold! Your stalk has been found!"

A Farfetch'd came into the room, looking frantic and excited. "Really!? Someone actually found it?"

"No need to be so _FARFETCH'D_." Chihiro laughed out loud while handing him his stalk. "This young Absol and his partner were able to retrieve it."

At the mention of an Absol, Arnold got worried. He turned towards Dust, not wanting to upset him in any way. "Oh...U-um t-thank you. I h-hope it wasn't a-any trouble."

Unfazed by Arnold's reaction, Dust just smiled back, "No trouble at all."

Feeling a little more comfortable, Arnold gave a smile, holding out the stalk. "You know, many have a misconception that this is a leek, I'm surprised that not many realize it's actually a stalk. If you think that's bad, wait until you talk to Bones about her own species, she's a Cubone by the way, she _will_ feel incredibly insulted if you call her skull her mother's skull."

"Interesting how you mentioned that. Strange how those rumors have started, but there has been research done in the past concerning Cubone and their relation. While not an interesting topic, it is important to note-" Dust was about to over explain until Chihiro decided to interrupt him.

"While I'm sure Arnold here would love to hear facts about Cubone, he does have to get going." Chihiro nodded towards the Farfetch'd.

"Oh, yeah, I have to go meet up with my team now that I have my stalk back," Arnold realized. "As for your reward for helping me, I believe I owe you 200 Poke."

Arnold held out a wing with a small bag of Poke in it to Dust, who gratefully took it.

"Oh, and here, you can take this too, I don't really need it, and it's pretty cheap compared to my stalk," Arnold added, before giving Dust a bottle of Calcium. "If you drink that Calcium, your special attack will get stronger. I don't use special attacks myself though, so I was going to sell it, but I think it's better to give it to you as thanks. Anyways, I better be going now, if you ever see me around the guild, don't be scared to chat."

With that said, Arnold left the Guild Master room. Dust was examining both Calcium and the bag of Poke, already forming ideas of what to do with these two. But then Chihiro grabbed them from his claws, placing the contents in her desk.

"Hey, why'd you take those?" Dust asked, he remembered how his mother told him completing missions usually resulted in rewards.

"Don't worry, I'll only be holding on to them. Currently you and Berry are not even registered in the guild. After I hear your report, we can move on to determining your rank. And perfect timing too, Berry come on in." She looked out her door, seeing that Berry had finally managed to catch up.

Berry was panting a little, having to move at a faster pace so she wouldn't keep everyone waiting. "I… apologize… for being… late… Guild Master…"

"No need to apologize. We are _BERRY _grateful that you were able to make it." Chihiro chuckled to herself, proud of her clever pun.

"Grandmaaaa, can you skip the puns? I wanna hear their story," The female Dreepy whined.

"I like Grandma's puns," The male Dreepy said.

"You would," The female Dreepy rolled her eyes. "You're almost as bad as she is sometimes, Spooks."

Spooks laughed at her remarks. "Ha, you're just jealous that I'm more funny than you, Phantom."

"Alright, settle down you two, if you keep bickering then we'll never get to hear their report," Chihiro spoke up, quieting the two Dreepy. "Now, I want the full report and the entire truth of what happened on your mission. Don't leave anything out."

"Gladly." Dust smiled.

For the next hour Dust and Berry gave their report. From when they first entered the Dusk Forest Dungeon, their encounter with the wild Venipede, later when Dust left Berry behind to go on ahead, finally to when he found the missing stalk. Chihiro's expression was constantly changing from amusement to somewhat worrisome. But when they started mentioning the thick fog and the two mysterious wolf-like Pokemon, her expression became very serious. They then concluded their report on waking up outside the Dungeon after their encounter with the strange Pokemon. It would've taken longer if Chihiro hadn't constantly kept telling Dust to focus on the report instead of trailing off.

"So…" Chihiro started when the report was finished. "You started out working together, and managed to chase away the Venipede. That was a rocky yet still promising start. But then, Dust, you decided to abandon your partner alone in the Mystery Dungeon to fend for herself just so you could go on ahead and find the missing item faster?"

After hearing it from the Guild Master, Dust did supposed leaving his partner behind wasn't too well thought out, but he was still confident that the ends justify the means. "I wouldn't say 'abandoned.' I just saw it being the most efficient way of completing the mission."

The Dragapault didn't look too happy with that explanation. "Dust, what do you think would've happened if that Pokemon didn't get Berry out of the dungeon? She would have been stuck there, starving to death until someone went to go rescue her. She could've become feral if she stayed there too long if she didn't starve to death. The Escape Orb that Carrie gave you would've only worked on you and your partner if you were near each other since you didn't have your badges yet. You would've left her completely behind, and something terrible could've happened to her. You managed to complete the mission, but at the cost of your partner. I don't know how it works in the Olympus Guild, but here in the Unity Guild, our partners are worth more than the mission themselves. Pokemon who are willing to abandon their allies are lower than dirt."

Dust realized his actions probably caused more harm than good. He never really had to worry about something like this before, mostly because he always kept to himself at his old guild. Others learned quickly to try to keep away from him, especially if he was performing one of his experiments. At worst, only Dust would get somewhat harmed, followed by a harsh punishment from his mother. He never really had to worry about anyone else, so hearing all this was quite a shock to him and he didn't exactly know how to respond.

Chirhiro decided to continue since Dust had stayed quiet. "If you felt that your partner was too slow, why did you not offer to carry her? Absol are strong, you could have easily let her ride on you while you move at your quicker pace without leaving her behind to the wild Pokemon. Slower Pokemon are often paired up with faster Pokemon to help them move quicker through the dungeon."

"It...didn't seem to...cross my mind at the time." Dust looked away while mumbling his reply.

Chihiro sighed. "Normally this type of behavior would not be tolerated, no matter the excuse. But the whole purpose of this mission was to see which Rank would best suit your skills. After hearing your full report, you two will be starting off as Normal Rank."

The slight guilt that Dust felt before was now replaced with shock. "Normal Rank!? But why? I understand I was…" Dust took a second to think of the correct word. "Rash in my decisions, but surely us completing the mission should merit us a higher rank."

"Correction, _you_ completed the mission, while your partner was lost in the Mystery Dungeon," Chihiro corrected. "Leaving your partner behind to complete a mission is what a complete rookie would do, thinking the mission is more important than their partner. You were also planning to explore deeper into the dungeon despite the dangers of doing so, something an arrogant rookie would do as well. That is why you are in the Normal Rank. You are clearly not ready to be anything higher."

"Honestly it's a relief… I didn't think we could handle anything higher…" Berry agreed softly.

Dust was grasping at straws now. "Surely there must be something that can be done. At least Bronze would be-"

"You could've had Bronze had you not left Berry behind, heck, you could've even had Silver if you and Berry were able to work together to overcome the obstacles of the dungeon and took care of each other if the other was hurt, and used the Escape Orb as soon as you found the stalk," Chihiro explained. "But since you showed that you have a lot to learn, you will be of the Normal Rank, and climb the ranks like everyone else."

Dust hung his head in defeat, sensing that anything he'd say now wouldn't change her mind. "I...understand." Still, despite the setback, he still had a chance. Just would've been simpler if he gained a higher rank.

"Now then… Carrie! Would you be so kind as to CARRIE the new team kit over here?" Chihiro called, making Spooks giggle and Phantom groan.

The Kangaskhan sighed at the pun as she came into the room, holding a silver box in her hands while also carrying Dust's original bag. The baby Kangaskhan Dust saw playing with the two Dreepy before was now in Carrie's pouch.

She took off the bag and handed it to Dust. "I believe this is yours."

"Thank you." Dust said, glad to have his personal belonging back.

Carrie then opened the silver box, revealing two white circular badges that had the sun, and the crescent moon fused together in the middle.

"These are your Unity Badges, the sun and the moon together represents unity," Carrie explained.

"It was also the most simplest of design for unity we could come up with," Chihiro added.

"I don't think they really needed to know that." Carrie sighed while Chihiro laughed. "With these, you two will be recognized as members of the Unity Guild. Work hard together, stay strong together, and you'll find yourselves achieving feats you never would have imagined."

She then took the badges out of the box, handing them to Dust and Berry. But one thing was on his mind. "Wait, together? As in, we are still going to be partners?"

Chihiro answered, "Normally we try to put new recruits on the same team to help them build a bond and grow. But they are allowed to choose their own partner as well."

Dust then turned to Berry, giving an apologetic smile. "Well it has been...somewhat fun working with you. I am sorry for my actions, I'd understand if you would want a different partner. I know I tend to...drive others off."

"I didn't appreciate you leaving me behind in a Mystery Dungeon like that," Berry admitted. "But no team start out perfect, right?"

Dust was at a loss for words. He expected Berry to want to leave. At seeing their reaction, Chihiro took the chance to jump in. "Well it seems that Berry is willing to stay partners with you. Do you wish to be in a team with her?"

Dust recovered from his shock, somewhat confused but also glad someone was willing to stay his partner. "It would be a shame to say no. I would like to continue being her partner."

"Then in that case, what would your team name be?" Chihiro asked. "Think carefully, because your team name will be known more and more the higher in rank you go."

"Team names?" Dust said with excitement. "Oh but there are so many to choose from. But it has to be perfect for our team. Let's see...Dark Dragon? No, too simple. Berryduster! Yes!...Actually no...Slimy Scyth? Sticky...something?...Oh I know! How about-"

Berry cleared her throat, getting Dust to stop and look at her. "If I may make a suggestion. Considering you're a Dark type, and I would imagine you running through the night, and how I can use the water element to my advantage, and hopefully one day be able to summon a tidal wave, maybe we can call ourselves the Night Tide?"

"Night Tide…" Dust said mostly to himself, staring up in the air as though doing an equation in his head. "Yes...Yes...I say that fits perfectly."

"Okay, so you two want your team name to be Night Tide?" Chihiro asked for confirmation.

"It sounds like a pretty good name to me," Berry answered.

"Very well then. Your team name shall be known as Night Tide." Chihiro smiled at the new members of the guild. "I wish you good _TIDING._"

"Chihiro, you are going to become a bad influence to my child," Carrie sighed while the baby in her pouch was laughing and clapping her little paws.

Dust and Berry only looked at each other.

"Okay, well, now that you two have become an official team, it's time for Carrie to take you to your new rooms where you'll spend your nights," Chihiro spoke up.

"Right this way, it's not too far." Carrie said as she left the room.

Dust started to follow, keeping up with the Kangaskhan, when he noticed that Berry was still behind, trying to keep up. He recalled Chihiro's words and sighed as he went back to where his partner was.

Dust tried to find the right words, being unfamiliar with these kinds of situations. "Um...would you like me to...carry you? It's been a long day and I'm sure you're quite exhausted from today's events."

Berry looked up at Dust in surprise at the offer. "Are you sure? You didn't seem to like getting my slime all over your fur."

Dust only chuckled, "It won't be the first time my fur has been covered in some strange substance before. It won't bother me too much."

The Goomy gave a smile. "Thank you."

Dust wondered what was the best way to get Berry up onto his back, he wondered if he needed to pick her up like how he did when they were running from the Venipede, or if he should lower himself and have her slither up to his back, which sounded even grosser than just having her on his back. Thankfully for Dust, however, Berry decided for him. The Goomy, despite not having legs, was a pretty good jumper, and jumped on top of his back, landing on him with a small sploosh.

A small tingle went through Dust's spine at the contact. "_Ohhhhh_…That's gonna get some getting used to."

Berry blushed a little. "S-sorry if I made you uncomfortable."

Dust shook his head, "You're fine. I've adjusted. Now let's get back to Carrie before we lose her."

Luckily for them, they didn't have to search far as Carrie was already nearby, witnessing what had happened.

She smiled at the duo. "I was wondering where you went. Now keep up, we got a busy day tomorrow and it would be in your best interest to sleep soon."

Dust followed the Kangaskhan with ease, glad to not have to worry about waiting for his partner anymore. The gooey substance that was leaking on his back was a cooling sensation, something Dust hadn't noticed before.

Carrie lead the Absol and the Goomy riding on him into a hallway. There were several doors leading into, what Dust can only assume, other members' rooms. Carrie stopped at a door that was at the far end of the hallway. She opened up the door, showing Dust and Berry a humble looking room that had a wooden table, a big pot that had clean water in it, two beds made out of hay, and a bookcase with books, though the bookcase was kiddie sized compared to what Dust was used to.

"This is just the basic room, you're free to decorate and redesign it at any time," Carrie explained. "If you're hungry, just head on to the cafeteria to eat. That's where you two met. Most low ranks eat at the cafeteria. The higher ranks usually prefer to hunt or eat elsewhere."

Dust was slightly disappointed at difference from his old room and this basic room. But he figured that would be the case. "Speaking of higher ranks, how would someone like us raise our ranks?"

"Don't worry about that now, you'll find out later. Anything else before I leave you two on your own?" Carrie asked.

"Are you going to get us tomorrow or are we supposed to find you?" Berry questioned.

"I would assume someone would get us. I remember that it was part of routine to help train new recruits," Dust explained.

"Things are a bit different here from you old guild, Dust," Carrie corrected. "There is no schedule that new recruits must follow. Doesn't mean you can sleep all day long, but something tells me you aren't the type to do so. We believe it's best for new recruits to decide when is the best time for them to go on a mission. Some Crusaders prefer going when it's dark out, after all, everyone works better in different time frames."

Berry hopped off of Dust's back and started to slither into the room. "That sounds really nice actually. Thank you for the information, Mrs. Carrie."

"Please, just call me Carrie," Carrie chuckled. "If that's all the questions, I'll leave you two to get settled in. I'll be at the Guild Master's room if you need me or Chihiro."

With that, Carrie left Dust and Berry on their own. Dust went towards the bookcase as he set his bag down. Opening it up, he pulled out some of its contents, several note pads, a journal, some writing utensils, and a sketch of him and his mother. Despite being less than a week, it only dawned on him that he won't be seeing his mother for some time. This gave him some mixed feelings, one of freedom and joy, the other of longing. He moved the childish books to the side, making room to put all his items on the bookshelf.

"Is there anything you would like to put on the book shelf?" Dust asked.

"I… don't exactly have anything," Berry remarked. "It would've been too hard for me to carry anything when I left home."

"Okay then, I guess I'll take this side of the room." Dust climbed on top of the hay on the right side of the room, already missing his old bed.

Berry slithered to the bed that was next to Dust. "Well… the room isn't that big for us to be picking sides, but whatever makes you happy I guess. I can tell you're used to better accommodation from the way you're acting."

Dust was a bit surprised by Berry's remarks, "Oh, well things are just...different from my old guild. Never really did sleep on hay before." Dust chuckled a bit at that last part.

"Hay isn't so bad, as long as it isn't sharp and uncomfortable," Berry chuckled. "I usually prefer sleeping underwater or in mud myself though."

Dust only nodded as he tried to get comfortable. After today, so many thoughts were going through his head. Some were how he needed to find a way to raise his rank as soon as possible. Others were about the events that had transpired in the Dusk Forest Dungeon, especially when thinking about that mysterious Pokemon. He recalled his secret mission from his old Guild Master, something he would have to look into in the future. But right now, what was bothering him the most was Berry's decision to stay with him. All his past partners were quick to leave, and many others were never eager to be his new partner. Despite how he treated her, he still couldn't understand why she stayed.

Dust turned towards Berry while trying to figure out how to ask his question. "So...something has been on my mind lately. And it's bothering me to the point where I'm sure it won't let me get any sleep...How to put this?...Despite all my actions, the way I've been treating you, especially in the dungeon, why did you decide to stay my partner? I mean, I've done some things in the past to make all my old partners leave, mind you none of it was intentional. But I didn't realize how much trouble I actually caused you. I gave you every right to want to have a different partner. And yet you decided that it would be best to stay partners. Why?"

Berry didn't say anything for a moment, likely thinking of what she wanted to say. "Well… it's true that after our first mission, I was left with a lot of… doubt about you being my partner. But, you know, nobody's perfect. I knew you didn't have any ill intentions when you went on ahead. I also figured it might take some time before we can really work as a team. Besides, you've been nice to me compared to… most other Pokemon I've met, so I didn't really want a new partner only for them to make fun of me for my weird gooey body."

"I don't see why they would make fun of your body. I think your kind is very unique, it's not everyday you get to meet a Goomy." Dust complimented.

"Yeah, well, I guess not a lot of Pokemon know what a Goomy is, or that there might be others like me, because I'm often looked down upon or laughed it. Some even tried to poke my body to see if I would 'feel anything', and trust me, I do, and I don't like being poked," Berry sighed. "I'm also often called 'the weakest dragon' for some reason. I'm not sure where that came from, but I suppose they think it's a better insult to call me a weak dragon than a melting jelliten."

"Well not much is known about your kind, especially how rare you are...I'm sorry to hear that. But in the end, I guess it's their loss. They should appreciate the chance of meeting someone like you. But I guess others are just quick to judge. Lots of time they don't even take the time to get to know you, only assuming the worst." Dust said, some of it being about himself.

"Hmm… what was your old guild like?" Berry asked curiously. "I was pretty shocked when you told me you didn't have any fighting experience. I thought someone like you would've had a decent amount already, you seemed pretty strong while we were in the dungeon."

Dust laughed a bit to himself. "I guess I'm just a bit more durable. I wasn't really into the whole...taking on missions. I spent most of my time in the library. Helps that my old guild had one of the largest libraries across the land. Other times I would try performing different experiments, seeing how one thing reacts to another. Also didn't help that every partner I had before you usually requested a change after a few days. I remember this one Pikachu who wanted to leave within the same day." Dust laughed even more, recalling that certain partner.

"You like to do research and experiment?" Berry asked, a little surprised. "That's surprising. I've always heard Absol prefer to warn others of incoming danger, and then go to face it themselves with little to no fear."

"That's just an old wive's tale. It is somewhat true, our kind does have a sort of sixth sense for sensing incoming danger. Others are more attuned to it, take my mother for example. Not only do others have a hard time trying to sneak up on her, she's able to give such a strong pressure that most Pokemon are either frozen in fear or run away." Dust shivered thinking about when his mother would get mad at him. "I still remember her glare every time I got into trouble."

"She sounds pretty scary too," Berry chuckled slightly. "I think it's nice that you're into different things than what would be expected from an Absol. I mean if you were like the Absol from the stories, I would be too scared to even talk to you right now."

Dust let out a chuckle, "Heh, funny how you say that. That's how it was growing up. Being an Absol already makes others cautious of you. Being the son of a famous Crusader whose reputation would send chills down anyone's spine made them keep their distance. So I spent most of my time alone, reading was the only thing that I found interesting. First it was only simple books, like the ones here on the bookshelf, but the more I read, the more I wanted to learn. But of course I couldn't just keep all that knowledge to myself. Knowledge is meant to be shared, tested, and added too. Others just seemed to be put off by my overeagerness to learn even more."

"Maybe you should try to slow it down with others. Pokemon don't always share the type of eagerness or intelligence as you do," Berry suggested. "Hopefully the Unity Guild would be more understanding than the guild you were in before."

Berry let out a yawn. "Well, I'm pretty sleepy, it's been a taxing day. Goodnight, Dust."

"...Goodnight, Berry." Dust replied back, still deep in thought.

He had a better understanding of why Berry decided to stay as his partner, but it was still perplexing to him. Nonetheless, he was rather glad to actually have a partner willing to be, well, his partner. He thought of her other words, and perhaps there was some truth to them. He's always been eager to share what he knows, even more when preparing his tests. Dust would have thought more on it if it wasn't for his exhaustion from the day. Stifling a yawn, he rested his head on the hay, thoughts going through his mind until he finally succumbed to slumber.

* * *

**Reviews**

**Greatest Guy****: Travelling Master: **Yeah, had a fun time writing him like that. And if you think it's great now, wait till you see later.

**Guest #1****: DarkFoxKit:** It's Berry, not Barry, like an actual berry you eat. And she is like Scorch, where she's a Goomy, raised by a family of Wooper and Quagsire. That means Berry's real and only typing is Dragon. She just thinks she's Water and Ground type.

I mean I guess us picking a Dragapault as a Guild Master was… surprising? I mean I know it's a new Pokemon, but there are a lot of guilds with a lot of different Guild Masters, so Wigglytuff's Guild isn't the only one.

**Travelling Master: **What's funny is that Dragapault wasn't originally our first choice. Me and DarkFoxKit were playing together on the Sword and Shield Pokemon game and when we saw Dragapault, she just worked her way into being the Guild Master.

**DarkFoxKit:** Heh, you know, if Applin had existed earlier, it might've been used as a trap for when players try to pick up an Apple.

**Travelling Master: **Well there will be some references to gen 8, as for whether the meteorite or wishing star will be related, you're just going to have to wait and see.

**Jewel moonstone****:** **DarkFoxKit:** Thanks. We started to smooth it out a little more after the first chapter. Merry Christmas to you too, though New Year isn't until the end of December, but thanks for the well wishes.

**InfernalzRush****: DarkFoxKit:** Author used Christmas Update

Reader is surprised

Reader's anticipation went up

Author's excitement went up

Co-Author is smiling

**Travelling Master: **Co-Author joined the battle

Co-Author is excited to be here.

**DarkFoxKit: **So this had turned into a double battle~

As you can tell, Dust not only didn't get Gold Rank, he got chewed out big time.

**HauntedHaunter90****: DarkFoxKit:** Glad you've decided to check this one out. Also… a Woomy, that sounded incredibly funny, and incredibly dangerous. XD But she's just a Goomy who thinks she's a Wooper.

**Travelling Master: ** That would be funny if there was a Pokemon called Woomy. I was caught off guard when I first read Woomy, but after reading it a second time, I found it both clever and hilarious.

**The Moonfox Collective****: Travelling Master: **You know, I'm actually pretty glad to hear that about Dust. Don't get me wrong, love the guy, but when we were typing him out, that was our goal. Really wanted to show how he is at the start of the story. Didn't really mean to hit all the wrong buttons for you, but at the same time glad that we did a good job on Dust. I think a little too good of a job. As for the mystery part of the Mystery Dungeon, well it is a mystery for a reason. But one that we may come back to in the future. Or not. You'll just have to wait and see.

And I totally agree, I feel sorry for Berry too, I just imagine seeing a sad Goomy and just want to cheer it up. Hope that you stay with us for the future chapters, I promise you that it does get better for them.

**Bvdrst****:** **DarkFoxKit:** Was that just supposed to be a joke or were you also being serious? I actually do have quite a few stories that I haven't posted, it's just… my other co-writer Onyx and I haven't felt confident enough to post them. We also didn't want to get overwhelmed by posting multiple stories at once, and feel the pressure by the readers when they keep telling us to update like they did in Child of Mew.


	4. Chapter 4: Exploring the Guild

**DarkFoxKit:** Dust… what are you doing in my room?

**Dust: **Oh DarkFoxKit, didn't notice you there. Didn't mean to intrude, but I saw your computer and had to take a look for myself. I must say, the internet is filled with wondrous sites. Though one that seems most strange to me is this one site called, Fanfiction.

**Travelling Master: **Dust, maybe you should stay away from that site, I don't think you can handle it.

**DarkFoxKit:** Yeah, I lost most of my innocence to that site, but also gained something fun to do in my life. XP And I would've appreciated it if you hadn't snuck into my room to use my computer without my permission. What if you break it?

**Dust: **If I broke it, I probably could easily fix it. In fact, I could even improve it. I couldn't help but notice that some sites took longer to load. Give me a few days and I can have your computer running faster than a Munchlax waking up for breakfast.

**DarkFoxKit:** No, do _not_ mess with the computer, you're more likely going to make it-

***There was an explosion, everything was now charcoal, and my computer was dust***

**DarkFoxKit: **...

**Travelling Master: **Hey, Dust.

**Dust: **Yes?

**Travelling Master: **I suggest you start running.

**DarkFoxKit:** … Travelling Master… could we upload this on your computer today? ***twitch***

**Travelling Master: **Uh… sure. ***gulps*** Let me just get my stuff set up.

**DarkFoxKit: **You do that. Meanwhile, I'm going to get the fire ready. We're having fried Absol tonight~

**Dust: **I don't think that's very healthy, and I don't want to be here to find out. ***Uses Run Away. Successfully Escapes***

**DarkFoxKit:** GET BACK HERE! YOU OWE ME A NEW COMPUTER! ***Uses Pursuit. There were a lot of load crashes in the background.***

**Travelling Master: **Yup, just gonna set my stuff up, going to ignore all that noise. Oh boy, try not to kill him! We still need him!

**DarkFoxKit:** ***Gives a very friendly smile as she walks over to the camera*** :3 By the way, readers, we hope you have a happy New Year. Get ready for 2020. I'll get the Absol we need for the big celebration feast~ Travelling Master, I'll give you 5 minutes before I come and get you~ ***walks off screen while humming***

**Travelling Master: **O_O Okay, well I'll let you guys get to the story, I better go check on them, just in case. ***Follows where they went, heading towards all the loud noises in the background***

* * *

**Chapter 4: Exploring the Guild**

Dust's slumber wasn't long, or at least it didn't feel that long to him. Perhaps it was from his old sleep schedule his mother forced upon him at his old guild that made him wake up. Or maybe it was sleeping in a different room that made his body feel less comfortable than what he was used too. Whatever the reason, he was up now. Stifling a yawn, he got off the hay as he noticed that Berry was still sleeping. He mostly noticed how parts of the hay she was on top of was soaked with slime, which now that he thought about it, he never really did have a chance to fully study Berry before. Now that he had time, he went to the bookshelf to grab his notepad, eager to write down some notes.

"Can't waste this opportunity," Dust said to himself as he took notes.

Most of what he wrote was about the physical attributes he has so far witness from Berry. Most interesting was how her slime was able to pick up some toxic traits due to being with Wooper and Quagsire most of her life. There wasn't enough information on Berry's kind, so he hoped to one day share what he learned while being with her.

From what Dust could tell, Berry either didn't have any bones in her body or her bones were extremely flexible. Her body was able to flatten itself like a puddle almost without any ill side effects on Berry.

So many questions were going through his head, but the sound of grumbling caught his attention. He looked down at his stomach and realized how hungry he actually was. "Well I guess with all that happened yesterday, eating had slipped my mind."

Berry grumbled a little, sitting her body up from her flattened state, opening her eyes a little. "I… can't help but feel some… discomfort…"

Berry noticed all the papers that were on the floor, and how close the Absol was to her. "What are you doing?"

"Ah, you're up," Dust exclaimed. "Don't mind me, I'm just taking notes on your physique. I mentioned before that there is very little knowledge on your kind. I hope to gain a better understanding and later be able to share it with every other Pokemon."

"Ugh… I would appreciate it if you didn't study me while I'm sleeping, that's really creepy," Berry grumbled.

"I don't think there's nothing creepy with doing researching. All I'm doing is taking notes of all your attributes." Dust countered.

"Dust… that might be fine on a wild Pokemon, but it's invasive to do that on a civilized Pokemon without their permission," Berry sighed before she slithered off the hay bed, looking really uncomfortable and itchy.

"Hmm, noted." Dust said while also noticing how uncomfortable Berry was. "Is something the matter? You seem a bit more...tired than usual."

"Well, I don't usually wake up this early," Berry said before she started to slither to the pot of water. "And I'm feeling really dry and thirsty. This is why I don't usually sleep out of water."

"Interesting," Dust noticed as he started scratching more notes. "Seems your body requires a certain amount of water intake. Kinda like a sponge. This just raises some more questions...By chance can I borrow some of your slime when we get the chance? I would like to perform some tests on them."

Berry slithered up onto the pot. "... As long as you don't mind me taking this pot of water for myself."

Dust just shrugged, fine with Berry using the pot. "By all means, go ahead."

As soon as Berry was given the green light, she jumped right on into the water with a splash. Dust waited about a minute or two before Berry popped her head out, looking refreshed.

"Ahh… that feels much better!" Berry smiled in relief, stretching her gooey body out.

Now that she was nice and wet again, Berry hopped out of the pot. Dust noticed that her body was shinier and more moist now than it was before, which he hadn't noticed before.

"Well… since we're already awake, we might as well go get some breakfast, and then go see Carrie about our real, first mission as an official team," Berry suggested.

"Agreed, the mind does work best after a good healthy meal." Dust said as he walked up to Berry. "Ready to get on?"

Berry smiled at the offer, glad that she wouldn't have to slither all the way to the cafeteria. She hopped onto Dust's back, landing with a sploosh. Dust immediately felt the cool gooey body on his back, causing him to slightly shiver at the touch.

"Gonna get used to that some day." Dust shook his head, shaking away the tingling feeling.

"Sorry about that… maybe when… or if I could even evolve, maybe I'll actually be able to grow out my own feet so you wouldn't have to carry me," Berry said apologetically.

_Feet? _Dust thought to himself. _I don't recall reading about Sliggoo having feet...Then again there's not much information on them either. Maybe they do? _"Well I look forward to the day when you evolve." He smiled as he headed out the room.

As Dust made his way to the cafeteria, Berry decided to ask, "Hey, Dust… do Absol evolve? I remember my dad telling me that he once saw an Absol that looked different from other Absol a long time ago when he was still a young Wooper, it looked like they had wings and everything."

"Excellent question, my friend." Dust chimed, excited to share some of what he knows. "Truth be told, I too had a similar question on whether my kind could evolve. When I asked my mother, she told me of a story of how certain types of Pokemon, one of them being Absol, had the ability to further evolve from their current stage. As to how they were able to achieve this, she didn't know. I've done my research but it seemed to be a lost skill. Maybe our ancestors knew of a technique to obtain this form, but whatever it was, they seemed to keep it to themselves."

"Ah, that's too bad, I would've liked to see what you would look like with wings," Berry commented.

Dust chuckled a bit. "A flying Absol, I would've loved to see that too."

Dust made it into the cafeteria before long. There were a few early bird Pokemon there already. Literal bird Pokemon, like Pidgey, Pidove, Starly, and the like. Most of them were eating what appeared to be chunks of Bug type Pokemon. Dust wanted to gag, just the thought of eating any part of a Bug type made him want to throw up.

"Oh hey," A Starly tweeted when he saw Dust walking in. "That's pretty cool. It's not every day I get to see a Dark type coming in this early in the morning."

Dust took a moment to look around the area, wondering if the Starly was talking about another Dark type. When he saw no other, he looked at the Starly and questionly pointed at himself.

"Yes, I do mean you, Absol," The Starly chuckled, finding it amusing.

"Sorry, it's just that, usually others just tend to...avoid me when they see me." Dust said. "I'm Dust, pleasure to meet you."

"And I'm Berry, his partner," Berry introduced.

"Oh, nice, I like that you have a Bug type on your team too," Starly said, thinking Berry was a Bug type.

Before Dust could correct the Starly, however, he remembered what Berry said about taking it slow with others. He decided to let the Starly finish before he would correct the Starly on Berry's type.

"My name is Talon, my Mom wanted to call me Soaren, but my Dad insisted that Talon is a better fit for a future Staraptor, and that it was a tough sounding name," The Starly introduced. "And this is my partner… uh… hang on…"

Talon poked his head under the table he was eating from, before a Caterpie came crawling out from under it, having pieces of berry and berry juices on its mouth.

"This is Tippi, my partner," Talon introduced.

"Hello," Tippi quietly introduced.

"Yeah, I know, I get weird looks whenever other Pokemon see a Flying type paired up with a Bug type, but we were paired together by the Guild Master and we're making it work, we certainly catch enemy Pokemon off guard with the String Shot and Wing Attack combo," Talon stated proudly.

"Huh, my first thoughts were you keeping the Caterpie as a snack." Dust innocently said.

Berry stiffened when Dust said those words. At first Talon and Tippi had shocked looks on their faces, but when they looked at each other, they started laughing.

"Wow, first a Dark type this up early, now he's telling funny jokes." Talon said between his laughs. "Can you believe this guy, Tippi? I never knew Absol could be so funny!"

"Heh, yeah," Tippi chuckled quietly.

"Funny?" Dust questioned. "What do you mean?"

Talon and Tippi laughed even more, thinking that Dust being confused was part of his act.

Dust blinked. "Why are you two laughing? I was being ser-"

Dust was interrupted when he felt something cold and wet splash him in the back of his head. Berry had just used a weak, small version of her Water Gun at him. When Dust looked back at her, Berry was giving him a stern look while shaking her head, or rather her body, telling him 'no'.

Dust still wasn't sure what she meant, so he assumed she would explain it further to him later. For now, he decided to drop the subject and bring up a new question. "Um...not to interrupt your...laughing. But who do we speak to to get some breakfast?"

Talon managed to stop laughing to answer the question. "Just go to the counter, you can't miss it. There's a Lucario, assisted by a Milcry, who will serve you your food."

"You're lucky, that Lucario can make really good food." Tippi added after she stopped laughing.

"Good, then let's go get something to eat, I'm hungry," Berry spoke up.

"Good luck with your Bug type partner," Talon said.

"Actually, I'm not a Bug type, I'm a Water and Ground type," Berry corrected.

"What?" Dust turned his head around to look at Berry. "No you're not. You're a Dragon type."

Talon and Tippi looked at each other.

"Maybe this is something you two should figure out while you get something to eat," Talon suggested.

Dust walked towards the counter, though he was confused to why Berry said she was a Water and Ground type. In contrast, Berry wondered why Dust wanted to call her a Dragon type.

"Welcome to the Unity Guild Cafeteria, how can we help you today? If you need help deciding, you can look over the menu on the wall," Lucario stated when Dust reached the counter.

"Thank you," Dust said as he looked to where the Lucario pointed. "What sounds good to you, Berry?"

Berry responded, "Hmm...Not to sure. How about-"

"Wait!" The Lucario interrupted Berry, staring intently at her. "Doth my ears deceive me? Or perhaps I heard that sweet gentle tone of an angle?"

Both Dust and Berry were caught off guard by the Lucario's words, especially Berry.

"E-excuse me?" Berry said.

"Sorry for my abrupt intrusion. Had I known you were female I would've treated you with more respect. The name is Brody, and who do I have the pleasure of meeting such a lovely Pokemon as yourself?" Brody flirtatiously said

Berry looked around for a moment before looking back at Brody. "Are… you talking to me?"

"Why of course." Brody winked at Berry. "Now you can forget about the menu and order anything your heart desires. I will use all my passion, heart, and love to give you the meal you deserve."

"Um… I…" Berry wasn't sure how to react.

"Oh stuff it, Brody!" A feminine voice spoke up, and a creamy Pokemon floated over to the Lucario. "This is the third female you hit on this week, and last time you caused the soup to explode in the kitchen because of it!"

"That soup wasn't my fault!" Brody replied. "I had to give all my attention to that Flareon! My passion was a fiery as the flames she casted upon my heart when I first saw her!"

"I swear… if I wasn't here, you'd have blown up the entire cafeteria by now with your 'fiery passion'" The Milcry grumbled before she floated in front of Dust and Berry. "Don't mind this lovestruck fool, he gets like this with every new female Pokemon he sees. My name is Cupcake… well… actually it's Strawberry, my Mom wanted me to evolve into a Strawberry Alcremie in the future, but I prefer being open with my options. You can call me Cupcake, everyone does. So, what can I get you two today?"

Dust and Berry gave a confused look at seeing the two, but their stomach reminded them of why they were there in the first place.

* * *

Dust and Berry were sitting at an empty table, putting the berries and gummis they ordered onto the table. Dust noticed Berry got blue and brown gummis rather than the rarer yet likely would have been tastier for her royal blue gummis.

As Dust was chewing on his food, he recalled their earlier encounter with Talon and Tippi and how Berry soaked the back of his head. "Hey Berry, any particular reason as to using Water Gun on my head earlier?"

"Well, yeah, you were about to dig yourself into a hole by telling them you were being serious about saying the Caterpie was the Starly's snack," Berry answered. "You shouldn't say that to civilized Pokemon, you make it sound like you expect them to act like feral Pokemon."

Dust tilted his head in confusion. "But I was never intending to. I was only adding on to what Talon had said earlier, that others find it strange for a bird Pokemon to be teamed up with a Bug Pokemon. I hardly think they would act like feral Pokemon."

"Whether you intended to or not doesn't matter, they would think you did. Pokemon can get the wrong idea if you don't make yourself clear on your intentions. Besides, there was also a chance you could've made Tippi scared that her own partner would eat her," Berry explained.

"Well if I did leave it at that, I'm sure they would think that, which is why I was about to first correct them on what I meant." Dust said, still not fully understanding what Berry was trying to explain.

"Look, you… you should learn social cues a little better. You have a lot of knowledge, but not a lot of social skills," Berry sighed.

Dust was about to make a remark, but then thought more about it. "...I suppose you are right, I mostly spend my time reading or keeping to myself...Okay, I'll do better next time." He smiled at her, thinking it would be very simple.

Berry opened her mouth to pick up a few gummies and berries, she savored it a bit before swallowing her food. "I've always heard that gummies can make you smarter, though I don't know if that's true. They say if you eat the color gummi that corresponds with your type, it'll make you smarter faster, and taste better too."

"I wouldn't exactly say smarter, I've done some tests before doing a test on unsuspecting members of my old guild. But what you said is somewhat true. They do provide much nourishment and growth to the corresponding type. Which reminds me, why are you eating those types of berries?" Dust pointed to her plate of food in front of her. "Those types of berries and gummies would be more suited for a Water and Ground type Pokemon."

"That's the point," Berry said. "I am a Water and Ground type Pokemon, after all, even if I'm so deformed I'm in a different category altogether, I doubt it messed with my core typing."

"You still think you're a Wooper!?" Dust exclaimed. "I thought we discussed this back at the Dusk Forest Dungeon. You're not a Wooper, you're a Goomy."

"Would you calm down? I didn't say I was a Wooper," Berry grumbled, annoyed with how loud Dust was being. "I know that I'm categorized as a 'Goomy' due to my deformation, but that doesn't mean my type is any different from a Wooper's."

"The reason why you are a Goomy is not because of deformation, but because that is the name of your species. Your kind is a Dragon type." Dust then paused, recalling how little information there actually was on Goomy. "...At least, that's what I remembered from reading about them."

"I'm not sure if the information is just wrong or if you're just saying I'm a Dragon type to try to give me better self confidence, but I can assure you, I am no Dragon type," Berry stated. "Dragon types look like actual dragons, fearsome, strong, well respected, and not all deformed like I am."

"You got that right." A rough, feminine voice spoke up.

Dust and Berry, surprised by a sudden new voice, turned to the direction they heard it from, and were shocked to see a Jangmo-o standing there, and a Zoroark beside her.

"If you want to see a _real_ Dragon type, then just look at me," The Jangmo-o said. "This little goo of a creature is no dragon."

"Hey, take it easy Blizza." The Zoroark spoke with a male voice, a hint of mocking in his tone. "It's not her fault that she's a weakling."

Berry frowned, her antennae drooping, though she didn't say anything to argue with their true statements.

"What a waste that an Absol had to be paired up with this phony, weak little 'dragon'," Blizza hissed, glaring at the quiet Goomy. "No self respecting Dragon would fold so easily after hearing a few words."

"Now, now. No need for hostility, we came here for the Absol." The Zoroark smiled as he mentioned Dust.

"Fine, Crimson. But make it quick, I want to get to our training after we get our food." Blizza grumbled.

Crimson then turned to look at Dust, but when he looked at his mismatched eyes, the Zoroark's calm demeanor faltered for a bit. He shook it off quickly though, regaining the same smug look. "Sorry about my friend, she can be very...passionate when it comes to Dragon types."

Dust stared at Crimson, not too sure on how to respond. "Um, apology accepted. I'm Dust and what business do you have with me?"

"We have heard about a new recruit that was an Absol that came in yesterday," Crimson started. "We were wondering who the Guild Master paired you off with."

"When we heard it was with a Dragon type, I thought I could find myself a worthy rival to help push me to become stronger," Blizza spoke up, before glaring at Berry, who slithered under the table to get away from the intense glare. "But then I find out it's this little weakling. I can't help but feel sorry for you to be paired up with such a burden."

"I wouldn't call her a bur-" Dust started until Crimson cut him off.

"No need to defend her. Instead, what you need to be doing is focusing on raising your rank." Crimson said with a smirk. "Heard the unfortunate news that you wanted to gain a higher rank but got stuck with Normal Rank."

"How did you know?" Dust asked.

Crimson just shrugged, "Word gets around. And as my partner said earlier, you shouldn't be paired up with such a burden. It's probably because of her that you ended up with being Normal Rank. So here's our proposal."

"Ditch that weakling and join our team." Blizza added.

Dust was surprised by their sudden invitation. "But why?"

"I can see a lot of potential in you. And even though this team already has a Dark type, I feel we can easily work with you," Crimson explained. "We are of the Silver Rank, meaning you would be in a much higher rank if you join up with us. The only condition is you leave that little partner of yours."

Berry slowly came out from under the table, giving Dust a worried look. Meanwhile, Dust was taking this all in, thinking hard about what they had said. His main goal for being here was to achieve Gold Rank so that he can return to his old guild. Being on their team would help him achieve his goal. It was very tempting, but when he looked at Berry, he recalled their time together. Albeit short, the words she shared, the experiences they had, and most importantly, how she was willing to stay with him. Pokemon before had always stayed away from him, always assuming the worst. And as he thought that, he looked at the Crimson and Blizza, seeing that they were doing the exact same thing. He had abandoned Berry before, he didn't feel all that good doing it again for his own goals.

Dust gave Crimson a friendly smile before responding, "Thank you for the offer, but I think I'll stay with Berry. If anything, I think I'm more of a burden to her than she to me."

Dust's response shocked all three of them.

"So you would rather stay as a Normal Rank with this weakling than join a competent team?" Crimson frowned.

"Yes I would. Besides, we wouldn't be staying as Normal Rank. I know that together we'll be able to raise our own rank. You two seem confident enough in your own skills, so I'm sure you don't really need me on your team." Dust said while keeping the same smile on his face.

"Let's go, Crimson. If this guy rather stay with a weakling, then let him stay, we didn't need another Dark type on our team anyways," Blizza huffed.

Crimson continued to frown, never taking his eyes off Dust's own mismatched ones. But then his original smug look returned. "It's a shame, but that is your choice, so be it."

Despite the smile on his face, Dust noticed anger in the Zoroark's eyes, similar to when his own mother glared at him for one of his many mishaps.

Without another word, Crimson and Blizza left Dust and Berry alone to get their own food. With those two away from their table, Berry could breathe easy again.

"Didn't think my encounter with another Dragon type would be so… scary," Berry muttered before she looked at Dust. "Not that I'm ungrateful for you choosing to stay with me, but why _didn't_ you go with them?"

"Well, I can't deny that being on a Silver Rank team was tempting, but I already have a great partner who believes in me as much as I believe in her. Plus, something tells me they would've kicked me out shortly after joining them." Dust chuckled, thinking about all the other Pokemon who just assume at first glance.

"Yeah… I mean not that you aren't strong, but they definitely seemed like the type who wanted only strong Pokemon on their team, and you did say you lacked a lot of battle experience," Berry noted.

"Yeah, imagine their surprise if they found out I've only been in battles fewer than the number of claws I have." Dust laughed a bit at the thought.

Berry gave a small sigh. "They are also right about me, I am weak. But…"

Berry straightened up herself, looking more determined than upset. "That's why I joined this guild in the first place. It was the only guild that would accept someone like me, and I can get stronger here. I want to get stronger so Pokemon will respect me instead of always calling me a melting weirdo glob or a weakling."

It was then Dust realized he hadn't asked Berry about her past.

"I like to think, one day, we'll be able to show Pokemon like them that we can be capable of so much more. Though admittedly it's really hard to see that from where we are now," Berry remarked.

After seeing Berry's determination, Dust started to get very eager too. "You know what? You're right!" He got up from the table quickly, grabbing Berry and putting her on his back, catching her by surprise.

Dust began running away from the cafeteria, and Berry yelped. "W-wait a minute, Dust! What about our food!?"

"We can get more food later!" Shouted back, his words echoing for those left in the cafeteria to hear.

Just as they had left, a certain Lucario made his way to where they were recently sitting. He was holding a big, decorative cake that was purple and green, with assorted berries and gummies all around. Despite the size and weight of the cake, he had perfect balance, and the thought of giving it to Berry only made him more determined not to drop it.

"I know we haven't had much time to talk, but I couldn't help myself. I felt there was a special connection between us, so I made this cake to show you how much you mean to me." Brody flirtatiously said, waiting for Berry's reply, only to be met with silence. "Berry?"

He managed to look around his cake to see that Berry and the Absol were gone. Disheartened but still hopeful, he stayed determined that he will meet the slimy maiden once more.

"Do not worry, Berry. I will wait for you!" He shouted, causing others in the cafeteria to give him weird looks. "Now all I just have to do is gently preserve this cake for she returns."

Unfortunately, as soon as he those words left his mouth, he stepped on some slime residue left from Berry's body. He lost his footing, the weight of the cake throwing him off balance. He tried to regain it, but ended up tripping on a table behind him, causing the entire cake he worked on to cover his body and the area around him.

At hearing the noise, Cupcake looked out from the kitchen and sighed. "Great. I better get the mop before he causes more of a mess."

* * *

"What do you mean we can't go in?" Dust asked the two Dreepy who were outside Chihiro's room.

Spooks sighed, "We mean that you can't go in right now. Our grandma is in an important meeting right now. Even we had to wait out here."

"What are you two looking for anyways?" Phantom asked. "Maybe there's something we can do to help instead?"

"Well we just need to speak with Carrie. We were hoping to begin our next mission." Dust explained.

"Oh, you're looking for Carrie? Well she isn't with Chihiro." Spooks responded.

"Do you know where she is?" Berry asked.

"She didn't say where she'd be going," Spooks said. "Maybe you could look around the guild for her. She usually doesn't leave the guild without telling Grandma."

"Very well." Dust was about to turn around but then stopped. "You two wouldn't happen to have a map of the guild, would you?"

"Well…" Spooks looked a little unsure. "Do we have a map of the guild, sis?"

Phantom chuckled. "We usually don't keep a map because we know this place like the back of our… hand…?"

Phantom looked at her little arms in question for a moment before shaking her head. "Anyways, if you two need a guide, I could guide you around the guild."

"Are you sure?" Spooks said with concern.

"Of course. Grandma's probably going to be in the meeting for a while, you know how long those lasts, I might as well do something productive and help out a new team know their way around the guild," Phantom answered, looking at her brother. "You can come with me if you want. It might be fun to explore on our own for a bit."

Spooks shook his head. "You go ahead. Plus, someone should stay just in case Carrie comes back or if Grandma's meeting ends early. She'd probably be wondering where you went."

"I suppose you have a point," Phantom remarked. "I'm sure she won't mind me helping out the new recruits around the guild though."

Phantom floated over to Dust and Berry. "Just follow me, I'll take you around the guild until we find Aunty Carrie. Try to remember the layout though, so it'll be easier for you two in the future."

"Not a problem, my memory is quite extensive." Dust proudly said.

"Good, cause my memory isn't that good," Berry chuckled sheepishly.

"It's okay, the guild is pretty big, but it's not hard to remember, there are specific places where you can do something like train yourselves, or go on a treasure hunt underground… well, I don't want to spoil everything, so just follow me and you'll see what the Unity Guild has to offer," Phantom stated.

Dust followed the Dreepy as she floated ahead.

Phantom lead Dust through the hallways of the Unity Guild, showing him and Berry certain rooms. Most rooms were for guild members to sleep in, so Phantom showed them rooms that held importance. There was a treasure room where they could talk to an Excadrill to dig underground and find treasures for them, that includes items like orbs that could be useful for them in dungeons.

There was another area that looked like a nursery school. Phantom explained that this was where Crusaders took any wild Pokemon that decided to join them in order for the wild Pokemon to become civilized Pokemon. This caught Dust's interest as he never knew wild Pokemon could be educated to be like a civilized Pokemon. Phantom explained that even though wild Pokemon can become civilized, there will always be a part of them that's wild, so the team usually have to keep an eye on them in case they suddenly go berserk against another wild Pokemon on a mission.

If it wasn't for the fact that they were currently looking for Carrie, Dust would've spent the next few hours pondering on what Phantom had said about wild Pokemon. But instead they continue, leaving the nursery school, going through the hallway. Soon they came to an open doorway, inside revealed a dojo like area. They took a moment to look inside, seeing that there were a few Pokemon training either with other Pokemon, or using practice dummies.

"Here is the Training Dojo, most just call it the Dojo," Phantom explained. "As you could probably tell, the members of the guild come here to train and get stronger. Most Normal and Bronze Rank members come here before they go into a dungeon since many of them lack the skill or confidence needed to take on a Mystery Dungeon."

Phantom then floated over to a large black bird. "This is Vesper, the Corviknight. She's the trainer of this Dojo."

"Oh? Hello, Phantom. It's rare to see you here without Chihiro and Spooks," Vesper noted, looking at the Dreepy.

Phantom slightly chuckled. "Yeah, but I wanted to help these two look for Carrie while also showing them the guild."

Vesper looked at Dust and Berry. "Ah, I see, so these are the new recruits."

"Yes, I'm Dust and this is my partner, Berry. By chance have you see Carrie?" Dust quickly said, not wanting to really spend too long at the Dojo.

"I have not," Vesper answered. "However, if you two ever want to train and get stronger, you can stop by at any time. I'll be sure to toughen you both up."

Berry looked interested. "Train and get stronger, huh? Dust, we have to come back here soon."

"You're more than welcome to come here, I'll just take a pass." Dust explained.

"But why? Don't you want to get stronger too?" Berry asked.

"Not really. Fighting was never really my forte. I'd rather focus on training my mind." Dust replied.

"Ah, but one could only truly be wise if they train both their mind and body," Vesper said. "At least think about it before you're quick to say 'no', young Absol."

Phantom floated over to them. "Alright, come on, there's still more to see."

"Lead the way." Dust said before turning to Vesper. "And I'll...think about it. I make no promises though."

Phantom lead Dust somewhere else, coming into what appeared to be a greenhouse. There were all sorts of plants being grown here, flowers, bushes, trees, and berries. The Pokemon in charge here is a Bellossom, who enjoys dancing to keep the plants entertained and alive, the Bellossom also mentioned that berries are tastier if they were raised with love and entertainment. Phantom explained that they could come here if they need to stock up on berries or if they want to plant their berries to invest more of it. They would have to buy berries, but if they plant their own, then they will be given their grown berries for free.

As they continued, they passed a stairway leading downstairs. Instead of taking them there, Phantom stopped by the stairs, explaining that she isn't allowed to go down to the prison cells. Members would bring back Outlaws that they managed to capture, until they are taken away. As to where, Phantom didn't fully know, only that her Grandma mentioned that they are taken to a separate facility. Dust was curious to meet any prisoner that might be down there, but Phantom wouldn't let him. After some convincing, Dust decided to drop it for now as they continued to follow Phantom through the guild.

Phantom lead them to a room filled with papers and envelopes. There were Flying types and Pokemon that can fly or levitate in the room. Phantom explained that this was the mail room, where Pokemon deliver mail across the world. Pokemon that can fly or levitate were ideal for the job, though Pokemon that can't fly can still deliver mail across the region. Phantom also explained that they used to only use Pelipper, but since guild spread across the world, there weren't enough Pelipper for the job, so they started to take in any Pokemon that can fly who are willing to deliver mail.

Phantom then lead them into what looked like a laboratory. There were all sorts of chemicals, samples of plant-life, fur, scales, a Pokemon's electricity, fire, water, and so on.

"This is the Research Lab. Pokemon here are usually the big brains, but they are also strong so we can trust they can take care of themselves when they go out to collect new samples for research purposes. The lab was also built to withstand explosions, as those happen quite often when experimenting," Phantom explained.

Dust's eyes widened with awe and wonder. As he gazed up the room, a choir of Togetic sang through his head. "It's...beautiful!"

"Heh, I figured you might like it," Phantom chuckled. "You're free to use this lab, but you should also complete at least one mission before you do. I get the feeling you'd stay here all day long if you could."

"All the more reason to find Carrie!" Dust excitedly shouted. "But before we do, who is in charge of the Research Lab? Surely there must be someone that handles all that goes on in here."

"Oh, well…" Phantom started before a Pichu suddenly ran over.

"Hiya! You say you wanted to know who's in charge here? That would be yours truly~" The Pichu said, giving a bow.

Dust at first was surprised to see a Pichu, but quickly returned the bow. "A pleasure to meet you. I must say, I am very impressed to meet someone as young as you. You must be a genius to handle the Research Lab."

"Yeah, it's really impressive," Berry agreed.

The Pichu giggled. "Oh, I'm flattered you think so, however…"

The Pichu's body suddenly glowed with pink light, and shifted into a Charmeleon all of a sudden.

"I'm not actually a Pichu, or young, well, not as young as you thought I was," The 'Charmeleon' explained.

There were twinkling stars in Dust's eyes. "Of course! That makes so much sense! Oh I am envious, I can't even fathom all the possibilities I could do if I had your ability!"

"Dust? What kind of Pokemon can change like that?" Berry asked, confused.

"Why the metamorph Pokemon themselves, Ditto." Dust explained. "As far as anyone knows, they are the only Pokemon able to fully change their physical body into an entirely different species. Zorua and Zoroark are pretty close, but they can only perform illusions."

"Whoa… so right now, you're actually a Charmeleon?" Berry asked, shocked.

"Yup. It also helps with researching other species of Pokemon," The 'Charmeleon' answered. "But, you should know there is something different about me compared to other Ditto, Absol, can you guess what it is?"

Dust stared at the Charmeleon, studying it. "Ditto normally have to see the Pokemon they're turning into. You're able to turn on a whim without needing a reference."

"Bingo, give the Absol a prize~ You wanna know what makes me so special?" The Charmeleon asked.

Dust and Berry looked at the 'Charmeleon' in curiosity before it was surrounded in a pink glow, changing once again. Then, all of a sudden, a pink furred feline-like Pokemon was floating in front of them. Berry's eyes went wide before she suddenly fell off of Dust's back.

The Pokemon gave a giggle before Berry quickly composed herself and started to lower her head in, what Dust can only assume, a bow.

"Oh, dear and powerful Mew, I am not worthy!" Berry quickly said.

Dust tilted his head in confusion. "Um, Berry. What are you doing?"

"Don't you know who Mew is, Dust!? She is the creator of all Pokemon, now show some respect!" Berry frantically yelled.

"But why? This isn't Mew." Dust explained.

Mew giggled more. "You can lift your head up, Goomy. I appreciate the praise and all, but your friend is right. Here, I'm just a Ditto. As for my explanation for this form… I was travelling the region, looking for Pokemon to turn into, when I one day came across Mew herself. I did what any Ditto would do, and transform as soon as I saw her. Though as soon as my transformation is complete, Mew already disappeared. I enjoyed my time as Mew, but unfortunately, I can only hold on to a transformation for so long before I had to eventually revert back to my Ditto self. I was really sad about that, but… the next day, I felt different. I could still see the Mew form I had clearly in my mind, and I decided to try to transform into it again. And to my surprise, I was able to. Ever since then, I was able to memorize every Pokemon I've met and transform into them without needing to see them. It likely had something to do with Mew having the DNA of all Pokemon, so that might have what upgraded my transformation."

Phantom rolled her eyes a little. "Otti loves to play tricks like this on newcomers. She always thinks it's funny to see the looks on the Pokemon faces when she suddenly turns into Mew."

"Still, that is still amazing that you managed to get a glimpse of Mew." Dust noted. "There have only been stories of the Legendary Pokemon, all sorts of different accounts, but no solid information. Oh I would love to meet Mew and ask them all my questions."

"I can tell, you definitely have a lot," Otti giggled before transforming again into an Absol. "By the way, thanks, you're the first Absol in this guild, so now I have an Absol form."

"Pleasure to be of assistance." Dust replied.

Dust noticed that Berry was still bowing her head despite hearing Otti's story about meeting Mew.

Otti then transformed into a Goomy. Berry looked up, shocked at the transformation.

"You know, this Goomy form is a lot similar to my Ditto form," Otti chuckled. "Oh, since you seem to have no idea what a Ditto looks like, young one, I'll show you."

Otti then released her transformation and turned into a pink blob, which was even more featureless than Berry's body, with only two simple eyes and a long, stretched out mouth. Berry stared at Otti once more, looking quite shocked.

Dust chuckled a bit to himself. "See, as I stated before, she is a Ditto, not a Mew. Which reminds me, you wouldn't have seen Carrie nearby, have you? As much as I would love to spend all day here, we do have to find her."

"Ah yes, Carrie. Last I saw, she was going to the Medical Bay to get her child a quick check up," Otti answered. "Well, 'quick' is never a definition when it comes to any form of hospital, but it's quick enough to not take half a day."

"Ah, the Medical Bay, that's just around the corner from here." Phantom smiled.

"Thank you Otti, it has been a pleasure. I look forward to coming here more often." Dust said as he gave a polite bow to the Ditto.

"I look forward to seeing you around~" Otti smiled.

Dust had to pick up Berry back onto his back since she was still staring at Otti, and followed the Dreepy out of the Research Lab.

"That pink blob was a Ditto…?" Berry asked when they were out of the Research Lab.

"Yes, you never heard of them?" Dust answered with his own question.

"No, I mean, yes, to some extent. I've heard they might have some kind of relation to Mew back when humans were still around. But that was about all I knew about them," Berry answered. "I didn't know they looked like… um… that. Maybe my real father was a Ditto and my mom never knew, so maybe that's why I'm like this…"

Dust was about to bring up the whole Goomy species again, but recalled their earlier encounter with the Zoroark and Jangmo-o and thought better of it.

"Oh, hey, maybe I can transform too!" Berry smiled, and she shut her eyes and started to concentrate.

This resulted in Berry's body jiggling, and releasing more goo on Dust's back.

"Gah! Berry, can you please stop?!" Dust shouted has most of his body got covered in Berry's slime. "I don't believe your kind has that ability!"

"Awww… that sucks…" Berry groaned, her body flattening itself into a pancake, absorbing some of the slime back.

It felt weird for Dust, since Berry's body stretched out on his whole back, almost like a wet, smooth blanket. Luckily for Dust, it didn't take long to reach the Medical Bay. True to Phantom's words, the room was right around the corner. As they entered the room, they saw a spacious area, enough to hold in multiple Pokemon. There were a few Chansey and Audino in the room, either going through some of the equipment, or tending to the few Pokemon who were in there. On the far side of the room they see a familiar Kangaskhan speaking with a Chansey.

"Here we are, the Chansey and Audino are the nurses around here," Phantom explained. "But you might be surprised to learn who's the doctor in charge around here."

Berry sat up, un-flattening her body from Dust's back, much to Dust's relief.

"But for now, you go ahead and talk to Carrie since she's right over there," Phantom suggested.

"Oh, I am curious to see who's in charge, especially after meeting Otti." Dust exclaimed.

Phantom chuckled, "Oh, it's nothing to the extreme of a Ditto turning into a Mew, just that it's a little unexpected. You would think a Chansey or an Audino would be the main doctor here. Well, I'll wait until you see him."

"Okay, now I'm really interested in meeting this Pokemon." Dust said as they made their way towards Carrie.

"Oh, hey Dust, Berry… to what do I owe the pleasure of seeing Team Night Tide so early today? I didn't take you as morning mons," Carrie chuckled when she saw Dust approaching. "And Phantom, you lead them here yourself?"

"Yup, they wanted to see you and I knew the guild pretty well, so I just figured I would help out," Phantom answered.

"Well it sure is a surprise seeing you three here." Carrie smiled at the young group. "So what can I help you with?"

"Well now that we are officially a team, we were hoping to get our first official mission." Dust explained.

Carrie chuckled to herself, "You do know you don't always have to go to me if you want to do a mission. That is what the mission board is for. But I do appreciate the visit, it's always good to see young members who are eager to do missions."

"We can take the missions from the mission boards now?" Berry asked.

"Of course, the mission board is meant for teams to go on missions with. Just remember to get it approved by the mission desk, or else it won't count as a real mission and you don't get any of the rewards for it," Carrie answered.

"Wasn't there another board beside the mission boards? What about those?" Berry questioned.

"Those are for higher ranks, so you two don't need to worry about the other board right now," Carrie answered.

"Oh, well good to know for the future. Wish we knew this earlier, could've saved us a lot of time." Dust noted.

Before Carrie could reply, a door opened, an Aromatisse came out, holding a baby Kangaskhan. "Chloe is as healthy as a Ponyta, Mrs. Carrie."

"Why thank you, Dr. Perfume." Carrie smiled, taking her baby back.

"I did the check up all by myself, Mommy!" Chloe smiled.

Dust was shocked seeing what kind of Pokemon Dr. Perfume was. "Fascinating, I remember reading a bit on your kind, but it was said that Aromatisse were natural dancers. Wasn't expecting to see one as a doctor."

"Oh, but I am a natural dancer, I just don't have the passion for it," Dr. Perfume chuckled. "Besides, dating back to ancient times, Aromatisse were used by plague doctors when humans were still around. So we do have a line of doctors in our species, it's just been lost in time due to our kind being known as dancers."

"Interesting, it always helps to learn more from others." Dust noted.

"Heh, it may seem silly that an Aromatisse is a doctor," Phantom started. "But you won't say that anymore when he saves your life."

"Indeed, I have helped and saved many Pokemon over the years, whether it was from an almost fatal wound, or a severe illness," Dr. Perfume remarked a little proudly. "If you and your friend ever need medical attention, my Medical Bay is always open."

"I wouldn't mind coming by some time just to take some research notes from you. My knowledge when it comes to the medical field is rather small compared to the other things I've studied. I would love to learn a bit about your medical practices." Dust smiled at Dr. Perfume.

Berry was nervously trying to make herself smaller behind Dust.

"I do look forward to teaching you what I know." Dr. Perfume then noticed Berry's reaction and slightly laughed to himself. "And don't worry, I know doctors can be scary sometimes, but I promise that if you or your friends ever need help, I will do everything I can to help them."

"U-uh… t-thank you…" Berry nervously replied.

Dust had a feeling that Berry was more scared around doctors due to her false belief of being a deformed Wooper that was called a 'Goomy', something he would have to try to clear up with her at some point.

"Phantom! Hey, are you here for a check up too?" Chloe asked, seeing her friend.

"Nah, I just came here to help Team Night Tide look for your mother," Phantom chuckled.

"Oh, cool, I didn't know you could help another team like that." Chloe smiled.

"Um… Dust…" Berry said quietly to her partner. "M-maybe we should um… leave, and go to the mission board now?"

"The mission board! That's right, I almost forgot. What with all this medical talk, almost slipped my mind." Dust excitedly said. "Thank you, Phantom, for showing us around, and thank you Carrie for letting us know about the mission board."

"Of course, it was fun to show you around." Phantom smiled.

Dust then turned and left the Medical Bay, with Berry still on his back. Berry was relieved to leave the doctor's sight.

It didn't take long for the Absol to reach the mission board. There was a Meowth and a Pikachu looking through the mission board as well.

"I'd say we take this one. It has a pretty good reward," Meowth said, showing his partner the paper.

"It's Ranked D, meaning we can't take it on until we're stronger," Pikachu pointed out.

"Come on, Normal Ranks can take D ranking missions," Meowth grumbled.

"Actually your partner is right." Dust informed the two. "Normal Rank can only take E ranking missions."

The two were caught off guard by Dust's sudden intrusion, but they were even more shocked to see that he was an Absol.

Pikachu then regained his composure, turning to his partner. "See, he agrees with me. The reward is nice but we gotta pick a mission that we can handle."

"Alright, alright, fine, but we'll never get anywhere only picking E missions… we gotta rank up soon…" Meowth sighed. "Oh, are you here to look for missions too, Mr. Absol?"

"Yes, and no need for the formalities. You can call me Dust." Dust chuckled a bit at being called 'Mr."

"And I'm his partner, Berry," Berry introduced.

"Whoa… what kind of Pokemon are you?" Meowth asked, surprised to see the Goomy.

"I think… it's a Ditto?" Pikachu wondered.

"Uh… don't think about what I am too much, okay?" Berry said with a sigh.

Again, Dust thought about bringing up the whole species topic, but thought better of it. The two waited for Pikachu and Meowth to pick their mission. Finally, they agreed after looking at the board for a few minutes.

"Okay, this one is an E rank, and the reward doesn't look too bad." Pikachu showed his partner.

"Hmm… yeah, I suppose I can live with that," Meowth remarked. "Come on, let's get this to the mission desk."

The Pikachu and Meowth left the mission board to get their mission approved, leaving Dust and Berry to look through the mission board themselves.

There were a lot of non-dungeon missions, surprisingly enough. Most of them were missions they could do in the city, like help with the groceries, babysit a Pokemon, help with the gardening, and so on. There were only a couple of ranked E dungeon missions.

As they were looking at the different mission, Dust didn't want a simple one. He still needed to raise his rank as soon as possible. One mission caught his eyes, and as he read more on the details he smiled to himself.

"How about this one?" Dust pointed to the one he was looking at. "It's a rescue mission at a dungeon called Seashell Cove. A Budew is lost in there. Seems easy enough."

Berry blinked, looking at the mission paper Dust pointed out to her. "It seems a Roselia lost her child while they were going through the dungeon. I… guess we should help out… as long as the Budew isn't feral by the time we get to it…"

Dust noticed the Goomy was a bit nervous. Thinking Berry was only worried about Budew going feral, he tried to reassure her. "Then we better hurry, don't want that happening to anyone."

With that said, Dust took the mission paper, and went over to the mission desk. The Meowth and Pikachu were already gone, so Dust walked up to the male Meowstic who was in charge. There was a small plate that had the words 'Miyagi Meowstic' engraved on it.

"Um, excuse me, Mr. Miyagi." Dust spoke up to get the Meowstic's attention.

Miyagi stared at Dust, making him a little unsettled.

After not saying anything for a few seconds, Dust decided to show him the mission paper. "W-we would like to take on this mission."

Miyagi continued to stare at Dust, then turned to the paper, looking it over. After a couple seconds, he grabbed a stamp and pressed it against the paper. He handed it back to Dust and gave him a single nod while keeping eye contact.

While Eclipse's angry stare still retained the crown of being the most scary, this Meowstic takes the cake for having the most unsettling stare, it felt like he was looking right into Dust's soul.

"...Approved…" Miyagi said with a monotone voice.

"...Thank you…" Dust slowly backed away from the desk until they were far enough. He then lets out a deep breath, glad to be out of the Meowstic's stare. "Okay, I don't know about you, but his stare really sent a chill down my spine."

"It affected you too, huh? I was hiding behind your head while you were talking to him," Berry admitted. "I guess it's a good way to keep overconfident members from taking a mission that's above their rank."

"I guess so." Dust agreed as he looked at the mission paper one more time. "Well partner, are you ready for our first official mission?"

"Yup, let's do this," Berry said, determinedly.

"Alright world, here comes Team Night Tide!" Dust shouted as the two left through the front doors, both eager to take on their first mission as a team.

* * *

**Reviews**

**Guest #1****: DarkFoxKit:** I would appreciate it if you didn't review just to tell us to review your stories. This isn't a place for advertisement.

**Travelling Master: **Yeah, and nothing against you personally, but all we know about you is that you are a "Guest" It would help if you had an account, but right now can't help but be pretty skeptic of your stories.

**Greatest Guy****: Travelling Master: **Major props for Berry deciding to stay with Dust. It definitely surprised him. And Absol are awesome, so I agree, pick the Absol!

**DarkFoxKit:** Berry is also surprisingly patient with Dust since she tells him 'well no team starts out perfect, right?' instead of just wanting a new partner because he left her behind.

**Guest #2****: DarkFoxKit:** It's a little hard to understand your words, from what I could guess, it looks like you're saying that the guild was supposed to value weak Pokemon, yet we're using a pseudo legendary Pokemon as the Guild Master. If that's what you're saying, then we'll answer accordingly, if not, then I apologize for misinterpreting what you wrote. The Unity Guild doesn't just value weak Pokemon, the point of the Unity Guild is that it values all Pokemon, whether they're considered weak or strong, the guild was founded by the Dragapault, who is strong and was able to CREATE the guild in the first place. A weak Pokemon wouldn't have been allowed to make a guild at all. The laws and rules of this world will be made more apparent as the story goes on. This Dragapault believes all Pokemon has potential and should be given a chance to shine, not just the strong ones. There's also the fact that Dragapault starts out as a weak Dreepy that can't learn any new moves and are considered weak by themselves, and then when it gets stronger, it evolves and becomes a force to be reckoned with. That's why we felt the Dragapault would be the perfect representation of the Unity Guild. And also… have you _met _Wigglytuff from the games? He is no pushover.

**Travelling Master: **Heh, I remember him. Was not expecting to see him like that. Just shows you that there's more to Pokemon than meets the eye.

**Bvdrst****: DarkFoxKit: **I didn't know what '/s' meant. That's why I asked for confirmation. But thank you for clearing that up.

**Travelling Master: **You always have something new to learn each day.

**HauntedHaunter90****:** **DarkFoxKit:** Yeah, though Dust isn't heartless by any means, he's just used to working alone. He didn't take into account what his partner would do or is capable of doing. He thought she'd be fine on her own, especially since all the Crusaders he knew could handle themselves pretty well. Hmm… I think you might have reviewed on the last chapter of the Child of Mew, but I don't remember, it has a lot of reviews. Thank you, by the way, and glad you've enjoyed Child of Mew and are enjoying Crusaders of Dusk. :)

**The Moonfox Collective****: Travelling Master: **Don't worry, Dust will still have some adjusting to do. He's already had a negative view on partners before, so actually meeting one who is willing to stay with him comes to a big shock to him. It's something he hasn't really experienced before, and for the most part, he'll actually try to be somewhat considerate to his partner. But yes, he still has a lot of learning to do. Back then the only punishment he got came from his mother, and after a while, he kinda got used to it. Since he's been cut off, his actions hit him pretty hard when it came from someone else.

**DarkFoxKit:** Heh, well the Pokedex always called Goomy the 'weakest dragon', so that's why she has that reputation. And… oh boy, have you _seen_ Sliggoo's Shield Pokedex entry? That's going to be '_fun_' for poor Berry later on. XP But yeah, Berry has a very forgiving heart, it's likely because a Goomy's nature is naturally friendly, and also because of the few Pokemon who did care about her, she learns to really value those who don't bully her. Dust may have messed up, but Berry knew he wasn't being malicious about it.

**Travelling Master: **Yup, you hit the nail right on the mark with that typo. It was supposed to be accommodation, so thank you for pointing that out, realized how confusing it was. Well then, my good reader, continue eating that popcorn, relax and enjoy the show.

**DarkFoxKit:** Just wanted to bring up something about that mistake with 'combinations' and 'accommodation'. It was me who typed that, so I would take full responsibility for that silly mistake. My brain was thinking 'combinations' because of how similar those words sounded. Thanks for pointing it out, so I went back and fixed it. And, as Travelling Master said, sit back, enjoy the popcorn, and have fun with the show~

**Jewel moonstone****: DarkFoxKit:** Talk about a last minute review. XD In case you didn't know, we're updating this every Friday, so it's every Friday of every week.

**Travelling Master: **Usually we do it earlier during the day, but my schedule actually got… jumbled, and I was unable to get on for a long time. But on the bright side, since it took me so long to finally get my stuff ready, we were able to catch your review. Hooray! ***Throws confetti***


	5. Chapter 5: A Team Mission

**DarkFoxKit:** ***Yawns lazily*** So, did everyone had a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year?

**Travelling Master: *Stretches* **I know I did. Despite it only been a week since we last posted a chapter, it sure feels a lot longer than that.

**DarkFoxKit:** I can't help but agree. Probably because we posted twice in a week. As for my Christmas, it was… um… it wasn't a good day for me. But at least my New Year's was better.

**Travelling Master: **That's good to hear. I was away from my family, but luckily we all got technology, so even though I was miles away, I still was able to spend some time with them.

**DarkFoxKit:** Yay technology! Anyways, perhaps we should get into the story now before a certain someone decides to show up again?

**Travelling Master: **After what you did to Dust last week, I think he's still recovering.

**DarkFoxKit:** He still owes me a new computer. I'm stuck using a potato with wires to update this.

**Travelling Master: **And I'm sure he will. For now, let's continue with the story.

* * *

**Chapter 5: A Team Mission**

"Alright, you two, we're here, at Seashell Cove," Sunny the Fire type Ponyta announced as she and Twilight stopped their carriage.

"You're so lucky, I hear you can find a lot of colorful seashells here, and the beach is just fabulous." Twilight smiled.

"Meh, all that sand and water Pokemon, you can count me out." Sunny snorted.

"Well thank you for taking us." Dust said to the two Ponyta.

"Just doing our job." Twilight replied.

With that, Dust and Berry hopped off the Carriage, and turned away to face the entrance of the Seashell Cove. They could feel a slight breeze coming from the dungeon.

"How do we always end up with those two whenever we take the Carriage?" Berry whispered to Dust. "It's like they're assigned to us or something."

Dust pondered about Berry's question. "Convenience? I don't know, maybe if, lets say, I was writing a story and I needed to put in some characters to travel around with, I would just stick with the first ones I made."

"Well… I guess, but this isn't a story…" Berry remarked.

Dust just shrugged as they looked at the entrance of the beach dungeon.

"It's kind of weird to see a much more open dungeon, it just looks like a straight path from here, yet when we enter it, it'll become the twists and turns of a Mystery Dungeon," Berry noted with interest.

"Well I wouldn't be surprised if it's anything like the Dusk Forest Dungeon. Ready?" Dust said, indicating for Berry to hop on.

"Yeah," Berry answered before she hopped onto Dust's back.

The Absol shivered a little, but it wasn't as bad as the first time. Though he did notice a slight new feeling through his body, he just assumed it was due to getting used to Berry being on his back.

Dust headed into the Seashell Cove.

* * *

**Seashell Cove 1F**

The dungeon was different from Dusk Forest, it was bright and sunny here, though not so sunny that it was considered a Sunny Day. The sand was a little uncomfortable under Dust's paws, and he felt like he was sinking a little. There was water all over the dungeon as well, making it a little more difficult to navigate.

"Guess it's a good thing that you're on my back. Can't imagine all that sand sticking to your body." Dust noted.

"Look at all the water though." Berry smiled. "They look deep enough for me to be able to swim comfortably in them."

Dust thought of a Goomy being able to swim seemed quite preposterous to him, but being raised by a family of Wooper and Quagsire, he supposed it would come naturally for Berry. "Would you prefer to be in the water while we look for the Budew?" Dust suggested.

"Oh, yeah, Grass types often like being near water, so maybe if we stick close to the water, we might find Budew," Berry remarked.

Dust nodded before he walked closer to the water, and Berry jumped off his back and landed in the water with a splash. Berry was smiling comfortably when she stuck her head out on the surface. "This feels nice, I always love being in water."

"It must be." Dust replied as he shook his body, shaking of any slime residue that was on his fur. "Getting wet gets my fur all heavy and kinda difficult to move. Then it becomes annoying when I dry myself. There was this one time I tried to find an efficient way to dry off my fur, and all that resulted in was having my fur singed. My mother tried to scold me but I guess the way I looked made it hard for her to keep a serious look on her face."

"Heh, I can imagine. I wonder what an Absol with black fur would've looked like, that might even be your shiny form or something," Berry laughed at the image.

"Well your reaction matched most of those who saw me back then. Either they were laughing, or they found me even more frightening." Dust laughed at the memory.

The two of them started to walk and swim through the dungeon, just having idle chit-chats. Dust was glad to see that Berry moved a lot faster in water, so he didn't have to walk as slow as when she was trying to keep up with him on land. He would have to make note of going into more water dungeons in the future with Berry.

Then, Berry's antennas began to move around a little. "I think there are some wild Pokemon up ahead, so be on guard."

"After the Dusk Forest Dungeon, I'll make sure to keep a more watchful eye." Dust replied, remembering their last experience.

"Well, unlike Dusk Forest, this dungeon is actually pretty small, so we don't have to worry about going in too deep and getting overwhelmed by stronger wild Pokemon," Berry said. "Dusk Forest is one of the rare exceptions that have stronger and harsher dungeons the further you go, or so I've heard anyways. Though I still don't know if those wolf Pokemon we saw were even real or not."

"Hard to say." Dust said while pondering over their last encounter. "If it was just one of us, I would most likely say it was just some sort of illusion. But both of us seeing a strange wolf Pokemon, who knows."

"I guess it doesn't matter now, let's focus on the present," Berry suggested.

Not long after Berry said that, they came across a Wingull. The Wingull spotted them and was immediately hostile, it let out a screech before it shot out a Water Gun attack at Dust, spraying him in the face, and soaking him.

Dust shook his head, spitting out some water that had gotten into his mouth. "Come on! We just talked about my fur!"

"Look out!" Berry yelled as the Wingull shot out another Water Gun at Dust.

Berry jumped and used her own Water Gun at the Wingull, the two Water Guns clashed with each other, though Wingull's Water Gun was slightly stronger than Berry's, and was able to push her Water Gun back until it sprayed Berry in the face as well, though it didn't hurt Berry very much. Berry fell back into the water.

Dust took this chance to jumped towards the Wingull, biting on its wingtips. He managed to catch the bird Pokemon, and with a hard shake, threw it a few feet away, spitting out feathers in the process. "Ptooie! Remind me to not try that again." Dust said, spitting out more feathers.

"It's not finished yet!" Berry warned.

Indeed, the Wingull, angrier now, flew at Dust so fast that Dust was hit before he even knew what hit him. The Wingull had used Quick Attack.

"Ouch!" Dust shook his head in pain. "Alright, lets see how you like getting frozen."

Dust started to charge an Ice Beam attack, intent of freezing the Wingull. He fired at the bird Pokemon, but he easily dodged to the side. Dust fired again, only for Wingull to constantly dodge left and right from the attack.

"Dust! Try to toss me at the Wingull, I can probably slow it down!" Berry suggested.

Dust looked at his partner, surprised by her suggestion. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine," Berry promised before she jumped on Dust's back. "Now take aim and throw me!"

"Okay, if you say so." Dust waited for the Wingull to make its move. It decided to fly towards them, preparing to use another Quick Attack. "Alright, here goes nothing!"

Dust bucked Berry off his back, causing her to go flying towards the incoming Wingull. The Wingull let out a surprised tweet at the rocketing Goomy before it was engulfed by Berry's body. The Wingull started to fly around frantically at having the sticky slug on it. Dust noticed that Berry's body was glowing green, and the Wingull was starting to slow down. It was then the Absol realized that Berry was using Absorb to slowly sap the Wingull's strength away.

"Fire your Ice Beam now!" Berry shouted to Dust.

Dust gave a nod as he charged an Ice Beam attack. Once ready, he fired at the Wingull, still trying to get Berry off. Just as the Ice Beam was a few feet away, Berry jumped off as the attack went past her, hitting the bird Pokemon square on its chest. It lets out a pained tweet as the attack started to freeze its body. Shortly after it fell into the sand with a thud, sinking a bit into the surface.

Dust walked up to the Pokemon, double checking to see if it was knocked out. He smiled seeing that it was stuck being frozen. "I say job well done. Nice thinking, Berry."

Berry gave a smile. "Thanks, I feel pretty energized from that fight."

"That's adrenaline for ya." Dust smiled back, walking back to his partner. "Let's keep going, hopefully that Budew isn't far. The sooner we finish this mission, the sooner I can dry myself off."

* * *

**Seashell Cove 2F**

As Team Night Tide continued their way through the dungeon, they came across a wild Staryu. The Staryu put up a pretty good fight, but nothing Dust and Berry couldn't handle. They ran across a Shellder as well, though Berry's Absorb easily took care of it. They found a few Krabby as well along the way, but they were easily taken care of. Both Dust and Berry felt a bit stronger after battling quite a few wild Pokemon.

Dust found some Pokes on the ground, which made him wonder if another Crusader team came into the dungeon before and dropped some items or loose change.

When they found a wild Marill, Dust was a bit worried how Berry would perform against it since it was part Fairy type, though Berry showed no fear to the half Fairy aquatic mouse, and stuck to its body using Absorb, tiring it out for Dust to finish it off. Dust supposed it helped that the Marill didn't have any Fairy type moves.

After the last battle, Dust stopped, deciding now would be a good time to rest up a bit. "Let's take a short break. We've been taking some hits with those last fights. And I'm sure you're getting a little hungry, just like me."

"Yeah… you have any Oran Berries or Apples packed in that bag of yours?" Berry asked, looking a little tired, even though she was in water.

"Yup, I packed the essential." Dust sat down, taking off his bag and opening it. He pulled out two Apples and two Oran Berries, handing one of each to Berry.

"Thanks," Berry said gratefully before she nomed on the Oran Berry, gulping it down with one bite. "Oooh, I feel so much more energized now. Gotta love those Oran Berries."

"I always found it interesting how different berries had unique properties that affected our bodies. I would have studied them more, but last time my experiment ended up causing most of the guild's berry supplies to somewhat...explode. On the bright side, they now had a surplus of jam." Dust chuckled a bit to himself as he chewed on his own Oran Berry.

Berry was now eating the Apple. "Do your experiments often explode?"

"Not always, some ended up in satisfactory results. But yes, most do tend to explode, but that does happen when trying to cause a reaction between two different variables." Dust explained, recalling his intention with the berries at his old guild. He took a bite of his Apple as he shared his experience. "I was just curious to see how berries would react if you could fuse them together. For example, I found that mixing an Oran Berry with a Pecha Berry not only rejuvenated a Pokemon, but also cured them of poison. So I tried fusing more and more, which apparently some berries don't mix well with others."

"It's good to experiment, but you do have to be careful not to go overboard, as the results can be catastrophic. My brother tried to experiment with mud at one point, and he got mud everywhere, he also angered a family of Vileplume with that stunt, heh, he was banned from their part of the forest," Berry chuckled.

"True, and I do try to apply all possible scenarios, including explosions." Dust explained, but then got very passionate. "But that's always the best part, the unknown variable. The unexpected, unplanned part of an experiment. When those surprises happen, it's a perfect opportunity to learn and further test on those new variables. It's also why I tend to keep on my own. It's one thing when the only variable I have to watch out for is myself. A completely other when there are others around you."

"Heh, I don't mind discovering new things once in a while," Berry said. "Like I'm curious as to how certain genetics work. Like why do mixed breeds often hatch with certain differences? Like how you have one blue eye and one red eye, and what else makes them different from pure breeds. Is it possible for the offspring to become so… different when they hatch that they're considered a different species?"

"All great questions I'm sure we'll find the answers to one day." Dust finished his apple and got up. "Well I'm glad to be partnered with someone who has such an inquisitive mind, almost as much as me. Now let's continue looking for the Budew."

Berry nodded as she swallowed down the rest of her apple, not even leaving the core. She and Dust continued their way, Berry still following in the water.

* * *

**Seashell Cove 3F**

When they came to the next floor, they saw some colorful seashells on the sandy ground.

"Oh, hey look, Dust, these seashells might be worth some Poke if we sold them at the Kecleon shop in White Leaf Town," Berry said with her eyes sparkling.

"Hmm?" Dust looked at Berry, curiously.

"Oh? You haven't explored White Leaf Town yet? That's the town the Unity Guild is in," Berry explained.

"Right," Dust noted. "As soon as I arrived in town, I was taken straight to the guild. I am curious to see how the town strives in a rural area."

"Perhaps after we finish this mission, we could look around White Leaf Town, it would be a good place to sell or recycle some of our excess items," Berry suggested.

"Something to look forward to then." Dust agreed.

Dust decided to pick up some of the seashells, since some extra Poke couldn't hurt in the long run.

The two continued onward, at first following a simple path. But shortly after they found that the area was getting a bit bigger, the paths splitting off more and more. After following different paths, they were surprised to see that they came across close to the beginning of the dungeon floor.

"Didn't we… just passed through here?" Berry asked with a frown.

Dust shook his head, somewhat doubtful. "I don't believe so...I mean, this floor seems pretty big already, kinda find it hard to believe that we'd end up back at the beginning."

"Some dungeons have mazes, and they can take you right back to the beginning if you're not careful," Berry warned. "I think that's where we are too. There are the same number of seashells you left behind here."

"Hmm…" Dust looked closely at the shells, then around the area. "I suppose you are right. Let's try a different path, hopefully it will lead us to the next area."

As they were walking and swimming to another path, Dust couldn't help but notice a curious little red toy shovel that was in the sand. Deciding it was just a useless plastic item some young Pokemon lost in the dungeon, he ignored it.

After a while, Dust and Berry came to a clearing. Berry looked around. "Uh… I think we're back at the beginning again, there are those seashells."

Dust noticed the plastic shovel was there too. "And that's the same shovel I saw from earlier. But what's it doing here?" Dust went to pick up the shovel, not noticing the slight shift in sands surrounding the toy.

Berry's antennae wavered and her eyes widened. "Dust! Don't touch that!"

"What's that?" Dust replied as he grabbed the tip of the shovel.

Dust yelped when the sand around him suddenly grabbed onto his body and hardened, making it hard for him to move.

"Sandygast~" A voice giggled.

Through clenched teeth, Dust managed to speak, "Did...that sand...just say something?!"

"Dust!" Berry was looking at Dust in worry and fear.

Dust was suddenly feeling weak and tired, he vaguely realized his body was glowing green, similarly to when Berry used Absorb on a Pokemon.

"What is that thing!? Some kind of sand Pokemon?" Berry questioned, looking at the thing that had Dust trapped.

"I remember...reading about a...certain Ground type Pokemon...that can appear as...sand castles." Dust struggled to say as the Pokemon continued to use Absorb.

"It's a Ground type? Okay then! Hey, you! Let go of my partner!" Berry shouted before she unleashed a Water Gun attack at the sand Pokemon.

"Sandygast~" The Pokemon that kept saying 'Sandygast' giggled despite being hit by Berry's Water Gun.

Dust could feel the wet sand hardening even more as Berry sprayed it. Berry stopped using Water Gun when she saw that Dust was looking more uncomfortable.

"Why isn't it working?" Berry asked in worry.

"It...must have...an ability that...makes it harden when attacked…" Despite having a hard time moving, his body fell to his knees on their own.

Berry, seeing that Dust was weakening more, quickly jumped out of the water, intending to try to use Tackle on the Sandygast, however, when she got close enough, she jumped at the Sandygast with a Tackle attack only for her body to go right through it, giving her a confused 'wah!?' before she hit the sand below.

"The Distortion World?" Berry questioned in confusion, looking back at the Sandygast that was enjoying sapping away the Absol's energy.

Berry glared. _No time for questions, it's Ground type at the very least, and its ability apparently makes it able to withstand water, so… I'll try Grass._

Berry's body was getting covered in sand, but she didn't care, she got in close to the Sandygast that was ignoring her in favor of focusing on its meal. When Berry got close enough, her body glowed green before she sapped the Sandygast's strength herself. The Sandygast weakened, but then it started to sap Dust faster to regain its strength.

"No way…" Berry frowned, seeing this and stopped using Absorb.

The Sandygast suddenly turned to Berry and gave a sudden roar and a scary face, making Berry yelp in shock and fear, and her body froze up.

Dust was struggling to stay conscious at this point. He tried to think of a solution. Any solution. _Come on, think...What else was said about this Pokemon. _Dust racked his brain, trying to remember what he read about them. _They're Ground type, apparently Ghost type too. They appear as sand castles always with a shovel...wait! The shovel._

"Berry...the shovel." Dust managed to convey.

Berry blinked, looking up at the shovel. The Sandygast, sensing what her intent was, began to bury the shovel into its head, leaving Berry with very little options.

"H-hey!" Berry glared. "You let my friend go right now!"

"Sandy~" Sandygast said in a teasing tone.

Dust felt so weak that he started seeing black spots in his vision.

"I… said…" Berry hissed angrily before she let out a loud shout. "LET HIM GOOOOO!"

Suddenly, Dust found himself being sprayed by what felt like a Hydro Pump attack coming from a Blastoise. The Sandygast let out a cry of shock and pain as it was pushed back by the powerful force of the apparent Hydro Pump attack, forcing the shovel out of its head, and fell to the sandy ground.

The next thing Dust knew, he wasn't being held on to by a powerful force and being drained of energy, instead, he was lying on wet sand, and his fur was covered in bits of wet sand. Blinking, Dust looked up to see the lump of sentient sand was hurrying to retrieve the shovel that fell off its head during the Hydro Pump attack.

_What...just happened? _Dust thought in confusion to himself, wondering where that attack came from. Last he saw, Berry was currently stuck from shock. Did someone come to their aid? Maybe it was one of the members from the guild, or maybe it was another wild Pokemon that happend to be on this floor. Dust would have to ask Berry later, once he got the chance to recover.

As soon as the Sandygast got its shovel back, it quickly buried into the sand completely, deciding to leave them alone after that sudden Hydro Pump attack. It was then Dust realized that Sandygast's ability didn't make it immune to Water attacks, just that it made it harder.

Berry was panting, looking tired herself, she felt a little dizzy. She then shook her head, trying to regain her composure, and slithered as quickly as she could on the sand to Dust.

"D-Dust! Are you… okay?" Berry asked in concern before she used her antenna to dig something out from in Dust's dropped bag. "Here… you should eat this Oran Berry…"

Dust didn't say anything, instead he took the berry in his mouth, biting into its juicy contents. The Oran Berry was a little sandy and slimey, but he didn't care at this point. Soon, his body started to regain some energy, and once he finished the berry, he found that he was able to sit up. Though still breathing a bit hard, he was glad for the Oran Berry and its regenerative properties.

"Just...give me...a minute." Dust said between each breath.

Berry nodded before giving a sigh of relief, and her body flattened a little. "I'm… glad you're okay… I was worried that… Sandygast… thing was… going to suck you dry…"

Feeling a lot better than before, Dust slowly got up as sand fell off his body. "Not gonna lie...was starting to see black spots back there...It was a good thing that sand Pokemon got hit by that powerful water attack. It looked just like a Hydro Pump."

"Was it? I kind of blacked out for a second there, the next thing I knew, the Sandygast was already retreating with its shovel," Berry admitted. "And I felt really tired… I guess that fight took a lot more out of me than I thought."

"It took a lot out of both of us, it seems." Dust noted. "Still, we were fortunate that some random Pokemon was nearby to use Hydro Pump. Not sure how much longer we would've lasted."

"But if there's a Pokemon that is strong enough to use Hydro Pump here, then we should be careful, we don't know if it's wild and it decided to use Hydro Pump on that Sandygast on a whim or it just really hates Sandygast." Berry frowned.

Dust nodded. "Agreed. We'll tread carefully from now on."

"Are you well enough to walk again?" Berry asked in concern.

Dust shook his body more to get any more sand off his wet fur. He then gave Berry a reassuring smile. "Not to worry, I only needed a bit to recover. Perks of all those explosive experiments is you tend to recover a bit quickly. As long as we don't run into that wild Pokemon, I should be good."

"Perhaps… we should hold off on exploring White Leaf Town until tomorrow, you're going to need a good rest when we get back to the guild," Berry suggested before she slithered towards the water. "Now if you'll excuse me, I need to wash off all this sand."

"I'm going to need a good washing once we get back." Dust lightly chuckled, but was still uncomfortable dealing with his soaked fur with some sand still sticking to it. His white fur now had a gray, soggy brown look to it.

* * *

**Seashell Cove 4F**

"I'm glad we finally found the stairs to the next floor, I was getting worried we'd be lost in that maze forever," Berry remarked, swimming in the water, glad to be cleaned of the sand that stuck to her body.

"Same." Dust nodded

To their relief, they saw a large clearing up ahead, they were likely near the end of the small dungeon. Berry's antennae twitched. "I think I sense some Pokemon nearby…"

"Hopefully one of them is Budew. We're running low on supplies." Dust looked into his bag, seeing that there were only two Oran Berries left, and some seashells.

"They're not far, so I guess we'll find out soon," Berry said, swimming ahead, and Dust followed.

Both Berry and Dust were relieved to see a small looking Budew was sitting near the water, looking to be scared, the Budew was constantly shaking and looking around, likely fearing any hostile wild Pokemon that might try to get near it.

"Mommy… where are you, Mommy? I wanna go home…" The Budew cried.

At hearing her cries, Dust and Berry moved closer to the Budew. At seeing them approaching her, Budew started crying more, especially seeing that one of them was an Absol.

"N-no, no! It's okay, we're here to rescue you!" Berry spoke up.

The fact that Berry talked seemed to have calmed down the crying child a little bit.

"H-huh?" Budew sniffled. "Y-you're here… t-to rescue m-me?"

"That's right!" Dust happly explained. "We are Team Dark Tide and-"

"Night Tide," Berry corrected.

"Right." Dust said, slightly embarrassed at incorrectly saying the team name. "We are Team Night Tide and we...oh the moment is ruined."

The Budew seemed to have perked up and was even giggling. "Th-thank you… please, get me back to Mommy."

When the Budew began to move closer to them, Dust noticed that Berry tensed a little bit.

Recalling what he thought was her cause to worry, he tried giving Berry a reassuring smile. "Don't worry, Berry. As you can see, Budew hasn't gone wild. We've made it in time, so there's nothing to worry about."

"I know she's not wild." Berry rolled her eyes.

Before Dust could ask, another voice caught their attention.

"I'm relieved that you managed to help this poor young thing find a way out."

Dust and Berry looked up in alert, before seeing a pink and white slug looking Pokemon slither towards them. Berry blinked in surprise, seeing another slug-like Pokemon. Dust recognized it as a Shellos, though he read about them having two different forms depending on which area of the region they were in. Last he checked, they were in the east side of the region, where the Shellos should be blue and green, so why was there a Shellos that was from the west side here? And why was it intelligent enough to talk?

"I'm sorry," Dust apologetically said, still having many questions going through his head. "But...why is a Shellos like yourself in this place? More importantly, are you a civilized Pokemon, or a wild Pokemon? And if wild, how are you able to communicate with us? And also, what is a western Shellos doing in the east side of the region? And why were-"

"All excellent questions, young Absol. I'm civilized, of course, but you can say I'm a traveller, so I don't live here, and I came across this poor Budew. I wanted to help the poor thing, I did, but I had no way of guaranteeing her out of the dungeon without her getting lost in it again by herself," The Shellos explained calmly.

The Budew was looking at the Shellos with an uneasy vibe, but she didn't say anything. Berry was still staring at the Shellos. Dust was just surprised someone actually managed to answer all his fast paced questions.

"Oh, well if that's the case, then thank you for watching over her." Dust said, following up with a question. "Do you need some assistance getting out of this Dungeon as well?"

"Nah, I have experience with Mystery Dungeons. You go on ahead and get that poor child out, I'll leave on my own time," The Shellos answered.

"If you insist." Dust then picked up the Budew and placed her on his back. "Berry, do you mind hopping on and making sure Budew doesn't fall?"

"H-huh!?" Berry suddenly looked nervous. "U-uh… I'm sure she'll be fine. We can… warp her and ourselves out of the dungeon with our badges since we found the lost Pokemon."

Dust, still unsure as to what was it that was causing Berry to be uneasy, just nodded. "Very well. Just hold on tight Budew, we'll return you to your mother post haste."

"Thank you," Budew thanked.

Dust tapped on the badge he had on his chest. The badge glowed and he suddenly found himself at the entrance of the dungeon. Seconds later, Berry appeared next to him in a yellow flash of light.

"That was cool!" Budew smiled. "I'm glad we got out. That Shellos kind of scares me."

Dust didn't really hear her, he was too distracted looking at his badge. "What incredible device is this?! I know of certain Psychic type Pokemon being able to teleport, but to be able to infuse it into an item?! Incredible. No wonder my mother always kept her badge away from me. I assumed she didn't want me to break it or something, but no! It was because of what these badges can do!" Dust would continue going on, oblivious to everyone around him.

"Dust! DUST!" Berry yelled, getting the rambling Absol's attention. "That's all fascinating, but we really should get this Budew back to her mother."

"What?" Dust looked up, his thoughts and words interrupted. He remembered their mission, looking behind him to see the Budew giggling at him. "Oh...right. Of course, sorry, got ahead of myself."

"You're funny when you talk fast," Budew giggled.

Dust turned away from Budew, slightly embarrassed and surprised by her reaction. Most would be drawn away or annoyed by his outbursts, but this is the first time he meets someone who found him...funny. It was a weird feeling for him indeed.

"Right then, let's return to the guild." Dust quickly said, still trying to figure out this strange feeling inside.

* * *

**Reviews**

**HauntedHaunter90****: Traveling Master: **Well wonder no more, they will be working together. Also, both me and DarkFoxKit have made the same mistake before, his name is Dust, not Dusk. I just found it funny how we weren't the only ones to misspell his name. Really glad to hear that about the ditto, you can thank DarkFoxKit for that, it was really her idea.

**DarkFoxKit:** Heh, the Ditto idea was inspired from another Pokemon Mystery Dungeon fanfiction, their stories are similar, but they are not the same, as you will see later on in the story. Have you ever read Pokemon Silver Resistance? That's where the inspiration came from.

**Jewel moonstone****: DarkFoxKit:** Heh, yeah. I thought it would be fun to have the partner thinks she's something else, it makes for an interesting arc for her.

**Traveling Master: **As for Chihiro, you pronounce her name as CHI - HE - ROW.

**Greatest Guy****: DarkFoxKit:** Heh… I know that the Absol is a Dark type, and the title of the story is Crusaders of Dusk, but his name is Dust. And yes, Dust has trouble staying focused, because when something catches his interest, he can't stop rambling on about it. Berry is becoming his anchor to staying focus, once she breaks out of her timid shell, she's got a bit of a sassy personality. Heh, I feel the duo bounce off each other pretty well.

**Travelling Master: **Couldn't have said any better than myself. And while originally Dust had never imagined being partnered with someone like Berry, he is glad that he ended up with her.

**InfernalzRush****: DarkFoxKit:** Author's drowsiness went up due to bad Christmas.

Author sees reader left a review.

Author motivation and happiness went up.

Author uses update. Reader's excitement went up.

**Travelling Master: **Co-Author also sees review.

Co-Author uses Cheer!

Co-Author used Cheer too much.

Co-Author pulled a muscle in neck...

Co-Author stops cheering and lays down. But is still glad for the review.

Co-Author gives Thumbs Up.

**DarkFoxKit:** Well, as you can see, it went… swimmingly, until that last part when Dust almost got eaten by a ghostly sand dune.

**Travelling Master: **But luckily they were able to make it out okay. And we have so many missions and ideas planned for Dust and Berry, and we are excited to show them to you when we get there.

**Guest #1****: Travelling Master: **Glad you like, it. And also glad to hear so many questions, so bear with us as we answer all of yours. So first off, how exactly civilized and wild Pokemon work. So civilized Pokemon are those with a sense of… intelligence. Or to explain it more, they are more attuned to common sense or reasoning, in a way. Civilized Pokemon usually live in towns, cities, villages or even living on the outskirts of town. Wild Pokemon are more attuned to their natural instincts, and most usually resides within Mystery Dungeons.

**DarkFoxKit:** The differences between the two will be better explained in detail in the story as it goes on. As for Legendary, they are… technically wild, but are as intelligent as civilized Pokemon. Psychic types are also wild, it takes a special… kind of knowledge for them to be considered civilized. Extreme intelligence doesn't always equal human-like intelligence.

**Travelling Master: **If you've seen Jurassic Park, they actually do a good job explaining this. The velociraptors were known to be very intelligent creatures, but that didn't mean they could speak in human tongue or such. Now when Dust mentioned about training his mind rather than his body, he wasn't really talking about literally training the mind. He was talking about studying, doing research. Nothing Special Attack related.

**DarkFoxKit:** Heh, well unlike the main story in other Mystery Dungeon games, there's really nothing holding the Pokemon back from evolving. It would just take a lot of hard work and effort on Berry's part since Dragon types are known to evolve when they're really strong or high levelled.

**Travelling Master: **No need to apologize for the grammar, I know english can be a pain in the neck. AND DON'T GET ME STARTED ON AUTOCORRECT! I CAN'T TELL YOU THE NUMBER OF TIMES AUTOCORRECT AS SCREWED WITH ME WHENEVER I MESSAGED ONE OF MY FRIENDS!

**DarkFoxKit:** Hehehe, some of his words turned out really funny due to autocorrect~ This is why I don't use autocorrect myself. I also need to recognize my own mistakes instead of relying on autocorrect as a writer. Autocorrect isn't always… right as you can see.

I can't tell you any spoilers, because for one, this answer is public, and two, I like to keep my readers in the dark until the actual plot or twist happens.

**Travelling Master: **So in the end you did guess what we'd basically say. As for the Zoroark and Jangmo-o, yes they are Dust and Berry's rival.

**DarkFoxKit:** That was the idea when we made Crimson and Blizza (the Zoroark and Jangmo-o). As for Mega Evolution, no, it's not permanent. I'm not sure what you mean by 'lack of information', but… there isn't a lot of information about Mega Evolution in this world due to the Mega Evolution needing a bond between Pokemon and human, as well as two special stones for it to work. It doesn't mean it's impossible, just unlikely to happen.

**Travelling Master: **So will Dust mega evolve? Sorry, but it's most unlikely that he wouldn't. But if he did, he would definitely test out those wings of his. As to whether he could fly or not… no he cannot. And he would most likely find that out the hard way.

**GUEST #2****: DarkFoxKit:** By 'Sotto' I assume you meant 'Ditto'? And those are some funny plot twists. XP

Well, it sort of does yet doesn't take place in the future of the games. It depends on which games you're referring to. The story takes place hundreds if not thousands of years after humanity disappeared from the planet. As for the Legendaries… ***shrugs*** Even if they were caught by Trainers, those Trainers have long since passed by this point in time.

The human civilization is just in ruins now. Mostly meant for archeologist Pokemon to dig up and discover. But there is a planned plot twist for how humanity disappeared. As for the Pokedex… the Pokedex itself doesn't, but there is a reinvented version of it in the story. It would explain why some Pokemon stereotype others, as the Farfetch'd, the first client, had told Dust before.

**Travelling Master: **As the story progresses, there will be times where we might bring up the subject on humans, but only time will tell.


	6. Chapter 6: A Spar to Remember

**DarkFoxKit:** … Dust… why are you on my Switch?

**Dust: **Hmm? Oh don't mind me, I'm just looking over your...what did you call it? Switch? Anyways, I knew humans and their technology were quite fascinating, but I didn't think they would be this entertaining. Wait...why is this one called Mystery Dungeon? I didn't know your technology had information on Dungeons.

**DarkFoxKit:** Hey! You better not blow this one up! I have a lot of games and save data on that, and I refuse to use that stupid cloud service! And that game is how we were able to create the world you're in.

**Dust: **I'm not gonna blow this one up...Wait, what do you mean create the world? Now I want to know even more!

**Travelling Master: **Hold on, you can use my Switch. You still owe her a new computer. ***Takes the Switch away from Dust while handing him mine.*** Seriously, don't blow it up. Also, here's your Switch back. ***Hand DarkFoxKit's Switch back to her***

**DarkFoxKit: *Takes her Switch back*** Thank you. But you better keep an eye on your Switch and Dust. He looks pretty tempted to dismantle your Switch.

**Dust: **I would never! Maybe...Anyways, let me see what this Mystery Dungeon is all about...Wait, why is it asking me questions? I am offered two gifts? Well of course I'm gonna choose the big one. What's next?

**DarkFoxKit:** ***Looks at Travelling Master*** You do realize that he'll have to stop and get back into the story soon, right? Otherwise we can't have the readers go into the chapter.

**Travelling Master: **True, but at least he's actually occupied. But you are right, Dust! Get back here, we got a story to tell!

**Dust: **Hold on, I just finished the questions...So far it says I'm the lonely type. True, I do prefer to be by myself most of the time...I have mixed feelings about what is says about me being lonely...Wait...it's saying that I'm...a Cubone?! That's complete nonsense. First off I am an Absol, not a Cubone-

**Travelling Master: **Dust, it's just a game. You don't have to take it seriously-

**Dust: **Nonsense! I answered the questions, I must take this seriously. Oh, I get to choose my partner? Hmm...Eevee. Perhaps this game will let me perform tests with this Eevee.

**DarkFoxKit:** Yeah… sure it will… anyways, Dust… perhaps you should give the Switch back to Travelling Master and play it later. We have a chapter to do and the readers are waiting.

**Dust: **I'm sorry but I just started. I should finish this to the end and see where it goes. ***Runs off with my Switch***

**Travelling Master: **...Why am I not surprised... Heh, looks like he might have got addicted to the Switch already. Right DarkFoxKit?...DarkFoxKit? ***Turns to see why I didn't receive an answer and immediately go pale***

**DarkFoxKit: *Murderous stars appeared in her eyes*** I… don't take kindly… to those who keep our lovely readers waiting… because of a video game. *v* Dust, Eclipse will be here in 5 minutes, along with Miyagi.

**Dust: *Comes walking back and hands Travelling Master his Switch back while giving a nervous smile* **Right, seems as though I finished. And you are right, no need to keep the readers waiting any longer!

**DarkFoxKit:** Good Absol~

**Travelling Master: **...Okay...Note to self, don't keep the readers waiting. Enjoy the story!

* * *

**Chapter 6: A Spar to Remember**

Sunny and Twilight were taking Team Night Tide and Budew back to the guild. Budew was looking at Dust and Berry curiously, though she seemed to be studying Berry more intently. Berry nervously stuck to the other side of the Carriage as much as possible from the Grass/Poison type's gaze.

"... Is there… something you want to say?" Berry finally asked, not being able to stand the Budew's stare anymore.

"Um… what… are you?" Budew finally asked. "You kind of look like that Shellos, but you also don't. You… are you a Water and Bug type?"

Berry frowned. "... Uh… well… Dust thinks I'm something else, but I'm pretty sure I'm a Wooper. And I'm a Water and Ground type."

"But...you don't look like a Wooper." Budew said, confused by Berry's words.

After hearing Berry talk about her types, Dust was struggling, trying to figure out how best to explain to his partner what a Goomy really is. He's tried multiple times, but either the message was misinterpreted, or it just made things more complicated. He still recalled their encounter with the Zoroark and Jangmo-o and how it made Berry feel.

"Yes, I get that a lot," Berry sighed. "I was hatched weirdly I guess, likely because I'm a mixed breed. My siblings said I looked like a squashed berry, so… that's kind of how I got my name."

"In a way...Berry is right." Dust said, carefully thinking out his words. "Usually the offspring between two different species might have the child to retain some unique attributes. For example, my right eye is blue, most likely from my father."

"Oh…" Budew said, not seeming to really get it. "Um… so… was your daddy a Shellos then?"

"I… guess so. I never met my biological father," Berry admitted.

"Same. Guess that's something we both have in common." Dust added.

"Wow… I wonder if my daddy was a Flying type, then I'd have wings." Budew smiled.

Dust scratched under his chin at the notion of a flying Budew. "Well that would be a sight to see. But, I highly dou-"

"I think it's for the best to just let her have her fantasy, Dust," Berry spoke up before the Absol could start overexplaining everything to a little child. "She'll learn eventually, that's what school is for."

Dust sighed, a little annoyed that he had to stop. "Very well."

Budew gave a smile at the two.

* * *

When Dust, Berry, and Budew were finally back at the Unity Guild, they reported Budew to Chihiro, who called in Budew's mother who was a Roselia.

"My child!" Roselia ran to pick up her child with her rose-like hands. "Are you okay? I'm so sorry that I had lost you!"

"I'm sorry for getting lost, Mama! I should've stayed closer to you, but I found a pretty seashell when you were leaving the dungeon, and… I lost you. I promise I won't stray away from you again, Mama!" Budew cried, happy to be back with her mother.

Dust and Berry couldn't help but smile as they watched the mother and child's reunion.

Roselia looked at Team Night Tide. "Thank you both so much for saving my baby. I don't know what I would do without her."

Dust vaguely noticed that Berry was under his legs, seeming to be nervous around Roselia and Budew.

"Happy to be of service. But it did help that a Shellos was looking after your daughter before we got to her." Dust replied.

At that, Budew frowned. "... I… don't really like that Shellos… he was pretty mean."

"Strange...He didn't seem mean at all. Quite the opposite." Dust added, recalling their encounter with Shellos.

"Maybe she was just scared and interpreted the Shellos as being mean?" Berry suggested, still under Dust.

"Well… regardless, I'm glad she's okay," Roselia said, before putting Budew down and walking over to Dust. Berry slithered further behind Dust. "Here's your reward for saving my precious child."

Dust had a bag of 300 Poke, a big, juicy Perfect Apple, a pink scarf, and a red scarf. Dust had no idea what the scarves were for, just that he would sometimes see other members wearing different types.

"We should be heading home now before my husband worries," Roselia said. "Sweetie, say bye-bye to your nice rescuers."

"Bye-bye, and thank you for saving me." Budew smiled.

"You're welcome. Take care now." Dust waved goodbye to the two grass Pokemon.

"Yeah, goodbye, try not to get lost in anymore dungeons," Berry waved with her right antenna, though was still under Dust.

Shortly after the Roselia and Budew left, Dust and Berry turned to look at their Guild Master, expecting to see an approving face. Instead they were met with Chihiro giving them a concerned one.

"So you two met with a Shellos? Was it blue, just like all the other Shellos in the area?" Chihiro asked.

Berry, now more comfortable since the Roselia and Budew left, slithered out from under Dust. "He was definitely pink."

"He said he was a traveller, and he happened to be exploring the dungeon at the time." Dust added.

Chihiro looked at Team Night Tide, and after a few seconds gave them a friendly smile. "Well first off, congratulations on completing your first mission as a team. And I bet that both of you are _Berry_ glad to finish it too." She gave a hearty laugh from her pun.

Spooks was laughing, Phantom was groaning. Berry just stared at the Ghost/Dragon type, while Dust wasn't sure how to react to that.

Chihiro then stopped laughing, getting serious all of a sudden. "But, you two are very lucky that Shellos decided to leave you two be."

Surprised by the sudden change in her tone, Dust asked, "Why? He didn't seem to show any signs of hostility."

Chihiro shook her head. "You see, that Shellos you met… was a Rank C outlaw. As far as we know, he's the only pink Shellos in the area as well. There had been no report of any other pink Shellos here."

Berry stiffed at that. "A-are you serious? A Rank C outlaw?"

"But why would a Rank C outlaw be doing in Seashell Cove?" Dust asked, shocked thinking about their recent encounter.

"Who's to say?" Chihiro said with a slight shrug.

Berry frowned before she looked at Dust. "You… don't think that Shellos was the one who Hydro Pump-ed that Sandygast, do you?"

Dust recalled how they were saved by the Hydro Pump attack. "Seems like a logical conclusion, a strong Water type able to use Hydro Pump, even if we don't know why a criminal would help us."

"You two encountered a Pokemon that was able to use Hydro Pump in Seashell Cove?" Chihiro asked, sounding surprised.

At that, Dust and Berry decided to give a full report on what happened during their time in the dungeon. Chihiro was most interested when they came to the part involving the Sandygast that gave them a lot of trouble.

"And you are sure you didn't see any other Pokemon nearby?" Chihiro asked.

"We were both in a daze after the attack, so if the Pokemon was nearby, they left before we realized what had happened," Berry answered.

"Hmm, well I doubt it was Shellos that helped you. There would be no real gain for him if he did. Besides, he said he's been with the Budew most of the time. If it was a wild Pokemon, you two are very lucky indeed," Chihiro said, observing the two young members.

"What is it with us and running into dangerously strong Pokemon on our missions?" Dust sighed.

"I guess we're just that unlucky and lucky at the same time," Berry shrugged, as much as one such as her could shrug.

Chihiro then smiled at the two. "From the sound of it, you two seem to attract _disaster _wherever you go. And I'm _ABSOLutely _sure that it will keep coming. But that's the point of some of these challenges that we come across. They're a perfect opportunity for us to learn and grow from them."

"... Wow… Dust, apparently you're making it easy for her to come up with puns," Berry remarked.

"...I don't...I don't know how to reply to that..." Dust honestly said.

"Okay, that's pretty funny," Phantom chuckled, mostly at Berry and Dust's reaction than at Chihiro's puns.

* * *

Dust was carrying Berry on his back as he walked through the guild.

"Now that our mission is over, perhaps you should get cleaned up and turn in soon, that Sandygast really took a toll on you," Berry suggested, still a little concerned for her partner's near death experience.

Dust had completely forgotten about his fur, and noticed how dirty it was. Most of his body still had sand sticking to it, while his fur was a mixture of white, gray, and soggy brown.

Dust nodded. "Yes, cleaning up would be nice."

"Tomorrow we can explore White Leaf Town, we need to visit the Kecleon shop anyways for more supplies and sell some of the seashells we picked up," Berry said, sounding tired herself.

Dust gave a nod in agreement before he headed into their room.

* * *

Dust had never felt so good after getting cleaned up. It had been a long time since his fur had such a shine to them. The cleaning room he went to was humble and small, especially compared to the one in his old guild, but it got the job done.

The Absol didn't realize how tired he was until he got cleaned up, now he felt a bit drowsy, achey, and yawny. Berry came out of the water pot, having finished soaking herself for the night.

"I hope you don't mind that we turn in early tonight, Dust, I'm a bit too sleepy to stay awake much longer," Berry said before she yawned.

Dust responded with his own yawn while nodding. They both climb on top of their hay bed, getting as comfortable as they can.

"Well today was interesting, to say the least," Dust tiredly said.

"Yeah… how did it feel? To help someone, I mean," Berry asked. "It feels pretty good to me, I actually got to help someone for a change, even if they are Grass type."

"It was...nice. Very different from what I'm used to," Dust honestly said. At hearing Berry mention Grass type, he recalled how Berry was acting strange throughout the day. "By the way, is everything okay? You seemed very nervous when we were with the Budew. And again when we were with the Roselia."

"My brother once got really hurt when he angered a Grass type Pokemon. We thought he was going to die, he was that injured," Berry explained. "Mom warned us the dangers of trying to go against Grass types, and to not provoke them by any means. My brother was hit by a strong Mega Drain attack. It was why I was so worried about you when that Sandygast was using Absorb on you and wouldn't stop. You may not be weak to Grass, but you were still in danger of being sucked dry. I've also kept my ability to use Absorb hidden from my family when I found out I could use it. I've only used it a few times when I needed to."

Now that they were alone, Dust thought about bringing up the whole 'Goomy' topic again, but he let out an unexpected yawn. Remembering how tired they both were, he figured he can always ask at a later time.

"Oh...sorry. Guess I should've noticed more how uncomfortable you must have felt when we were with the Budew." Dust apologized.

"It's fine, I decided to take the mission despite knowing our client was a Grass type. I know not all Grass types are out to get me or anything, it's just hard not to be nervous around them," Berry admitted. "Perhaps after we go around White Leaf tomorrow, we should practice a bit at the Training Dojo before going on our next mission."

Dust didn't really want to go to the Dojo, but he was too tired to argue. "Sure, but let's get some sleep now. We'll do all that stuff tomorrow."

"Agreed. Goodnight, Dust," Berry said.

"...Night…" Dust replied, already half asleep.

* * *

The next morning, after Berry and Dust ate breakfast at the cafeteria, they headed out of the guild. Dust was carrying the Goomy on his back again. Dust couldn't help but smile, excited to explore a new town, meaning it was full of new potential, and new things to discover and maybe even experiment.

"So, any clue on where this Kecleon shop is?" Dust asked while turning to look back at Berry.

There were a lot of civilized Pokemon around the place. Many were the common type, like Ratatta, Pidgey, Zigzagoon, and the like. There were also quite a few farm-like Pokemon roaming around as well, like Miltank, Tauros, Mudbray, Mareep, and Wooloo.

"You can try to look around, it's pretty hard to miss," Berry said. "You might find some other shops that might interest you as well. Kecleon just sells the essentials for dungeon exploration."

Dust nodded as they continued making their way through town. As they got closer to the center, they noticed that there were more and more Pokemon nearby. It was then they saw that not only was there a Kecleon shop, but many other shops nearby, just like Berry had said. There was one shop that was shaped like a Kangaskhan, another was shaped like a giant egg, and another that was shaped like a giant, blue box.

"Oh wow." Dust took a moment to look around. "There was nothing like this at my old guild. We only had one store within the guild, and it had all the essentials you would need. But here, wasn't expecting to see this many shops."

"The Unity Guild was the first thing around these parts, it used to be a big open, empty field. Pokemon started to move here after a while, and began to build shops and stuff near the guild so the Crusader members can come and shop here instead of having to go far to gather up supplies. At least that's what I've heard anyways," Berry informed. "They have different services that benefits both members and normal civilized Pokemon that live here, or are just passing through. Like that egg shaped building for example, sometimes you might find abandoned Pokemon eggs, or you get eggs as a reward for completing a mission. They're precious, but are a burden to look after. The Eggsecute service looks after your egg, and help raise the child so they can be ready to be a member of the team, or, if you prefer, send them to school so they can be a proper civilized Pokemon and live out their own life."

Dust found it a bit strange having to have someone else explain so much to him, but it made sense. "I can already imagine what my mother would say if I had an egg." He shuddered at the mere thought.

Berry chuckled. "Just don't experiment on the eggs. Anyways, you remember, Carrie, right? She actually runs her own business here, at the Kangaskhan Storage Warehouse. You can give her items you wish to keep, but don't want to bring with you, she'll keep them stored safely until you need the items again."

"Oh, that is useful. Maybe we can give her the scarfs Roselia gave us." Dust said as he pulled out the two scarves from their bag. "I've seen other members wear different scarves before, but I don't really know their purpose. Well besides maybe keeping someone warm."

"We could always ask," Berry suggested. "Anyways, the last shop that I know of is the Link shop. I… honestly don't know what it does. I've heard that the service there supposedly makes it so you could use your moves twice as fast, but you get exhausted twice as fast as well, so I never really saw much of a reason to use something like that. I guess if you're trying to go out as an all out attacker, it might work? But you'll leave yourself vulnerable quicker if you're not careful."

Dust was curious, but didn't really see much use for it, so he just shrugged. They headed towards the shop that looked like a Kangaskhan, and ended up seeing a familiar face there as well. As they got closer, Carrie noticed the two and waved to them.

"Well ain't this a surprise?" Carrie gave them a friendly smile. "First the Medical Room, now here by my shop. If I didn't know any better, I'd say you two were stalking me."

"I wouldn't say stalking, but more of chance, per say." Dust explained, not catching the joke Carrie just shared. "Yesterday we were looking for you, and today we just happened to find your shop."

"Hi, hi! It's nice to see you again!" Chloe, the baby Kangaskhan in Carrie's pouch, greeted. "So, what is your business here? … Did I say that right, Mommy?"

"You said it just fine, Chloe," Carrie chuckled. "So, since you two are here, I take it you want to use my services?"

"Yes, we do," Berry answered.

Dust took out the two scarves from his bag and placed them on the counter in front of him. "We were hoping you might tell us if there is anything special about these scarves."

Carrie picked up the two scarves and analyzed them for a moment. "Ah, I'm surprised, these scarves are pretty rare. The pink one is called a Pecha Scarf, it was made to have the same properties as Pecha Berries, though it can't heal you if you're already poisoned, it does prevent you from getting poisoned if you wear it on your body. The red one is called a Defense Scarf, if you wear it, it makes your body tougher and increases your ability to take physical hits."

"Wow, I didn't know scarves could do that," Berry commented, surprised.

"That is incredible!" Dust shouted, excited to come across something new. "To think that Roselia would give us such rare items. Oh I must look more into those scarves now!"

"Later, Dust! Remember, we have a lot to do today," Berry reminded the excited Absol.

"Fine." Dust gave an exaggerated sigh.

"So, will you be leaving the scarves with me or will you be keeping them?" Carrie asked.

"We will most definitely be keeping them!" Dust excitedly said with outstretched arms.

Carrie chuckled before she gave the two scarves back to Dust. "Very well then. Are there any items or Poke you want to leave with me?"

"Poke?" Dust asked. "You don't just do items?"

"Nope, I also run the bank service. Pokemon can leave or withdraw their Poke here," Carrie explained. "Sometimes it's not a good thing to carry too much Poke in a dungeon, especially when you're going after an outlaw."

"Wouldn't want that." Dust then took out all the Poke they had in a bag. "From the last two missions we did, plus the extra Poke we found while in the dungeon we should have…" Dust started doing the math in his head, quickly adding all the Poke together. "...578 Poke."

"Um… Dust… maybe you should wait on doing that, we haven't gone to Kecleon's shop yet, and we kinda need the Poke to buy stuff," Berry informed.

"Right, and we still have a few items to sell as well." Dust added, putting all the Poke back into their bag.

Carrie chuckled. "Alright, well if you need me, you know where to find me."

"Come again soon!" Chloe waved.

Dust walked over to the Kecleon building, and was surprised to see two Kecleon there instead of just one. One Kecleon was the standard green color, but the other was purple. Dust knew Kecleon had the Color Change ability, but this was the first time he saw a Kecleon took on a different color outside of battle. _Maybe it's a shiny Kecleon…?_

There hadn't been any pictures of a shiny Kecleon before, so Dust thought it might be possible the purple Kecleon was a shiny. If that was the case, it would be his first time seeing a real shiny Pokemon. The two Kecleon noticed Dust and Berry and happily greeted them.

"Welcome to our shop!" They both said at the same time.

"You two are a couple of new faces around here," The green Kecleon noted happily. "It'll be a pleasure to be doing business with you two."

"My brother here," The purple Kecleon gestered. "Sells things like berries, apples, and seeds. While I sell Technical Machines and orbs."

"So, what will it be? You can take a look at our merchandise," The green Kecleon stated, before he and the purple Kecleon gestured to the shelves behind them.

"Actually, I wouldn't mind having a look at your Technical Machines." Dust said.

"Ah, good choice there, Absol." The purple Kecleon smiled before he went to the shelves and brought out a box full of CDs.

The CDs were in cases that had the moves they taught labelled. There were a lot of good ones from what Dust could see, like Flamethrower, Ice Beam, Thunderbolt, Secret Power, Dragon Pulse, Aerial Ace, Water Pulse, and more.

"Go ahead and take your pick," The purple Kecleon said.

Dust already knew which one he was most interested in. He pointed at the CD labelled 'Hidden Power'. "I've heard of this move, almost every Pokemon can learn it, but depending on the Pokemon themselves determines the type of attack the move will be."

The purple Kecleon took out the CD that was labelled 'Hidden Power'. "Ah, yes, an excellent choice there, young Absol. That'll be 7000 Poke."

Dust's jaw dropped after hearing the price. "7000 Poke?! We don't have 7000 Poke!"

"We can barely afford the case itself…" Berry commented.

The purple Kecleon frowned a little before putting the CD back into the box. "Ah, yes, I forgot that new Crusaders don't have a lot of Poke. I should've warned you that Technical Machines are very expensive, they are hard to find, and because they can teach you a move instantaneously, they are very sought after. I apologize, but they can't be any cheaper."

_Oh, well that explains why the guild's shop keeper was upset with me. Guess he wasn't too happy with me taking two Technical Moves without paying. _Dust now understood why his mother was upset with him that one time.

"Well I suppose that makes sense." Dust replied with disappointment.

"Would you like anything else?" The green Kecleon asked as the purple Kecleon was putting the box of TMs away. "Berries and apples are very cheap, and good for Normal Rank Crusaders. Seeds, on the other hand… they can get pretty expensive depending on which type you're getting."

"We'll take a look at some of your berries. Oh, by chance, is it possible we can sell some items to you?" Dust recalled the seashells that they had found.

"Of course, we will buy whatever items you happen to collect on your missions," The green Kecleon answered. "It will help us expand our own stocks as well."

Dust took out four seashells from their bag and placed them on the counter. Two of them were pearly white, one was aqua blue and the last was a bright pink. "We found these in Seashell Cove."

"Ah, yes, these shells will be good for making certain types of medicine," The green Kecleon remarked, looking at the seashells. "I will pay you about 200 Pokes in total for these 4 seashells, is that acceptable?"

"Yes, that's good," Dust answered. _At least I have some extra Poke to buy some berries and apples._

* * *

After Dust bought some supplies for their next mission, he headed back to the Unity Guild with Berry still on his back. Dust did notice a few other shops that were currently closed down for renovations, and he was interested in checking them out later when they opened.

Dust was intending to go straight to the mission board so he could pick out a mission he and Berry could do for the day, but Berry reminded him they had to go to the Training Dojo first. The young Absol didn't want to go train in the Dojo, but since he already agreed to go last night, he, begrudgingly, made his way to the Dojo.

When Dust got to the Dojo, he and Berry were surprised to see there were a lot of Pokemon gathered around.

"What's going on? Is there some kind of event in the Dojo today?" Berry wondered.

"Not exactly." A familiar Starly greeted them.

"Talon," Dust recalled the bird Pokemon they met yesterday. "Nice seeing you again."

Talon smiled. "Likewise."

Tippi, the Caterpie, was on Talon's back, much like how Berry was on Dust's back. "H-hi…"

"So, to answer your question, we have a Silver Rank team in the Dojo today, it's not every day a higher rank would come into the Training Dojo, so we're all pretty excited to see how they spar," Talon explained.

"A Silver Rank? That's the highest one here?" Dust asked. He knew there were quite a few members who were Normal Rank, but he assumed that there'd be quite a few more higher ranked ones too.

"Of course not," Talon laughed. "They're just the highest ones we have in the guild right now. The higher ranked members are off on long term missions, so they won't be back for quite a while."

"Oh. Well now I'm curious…" Dust started off, but then had a funny feeling that he had heard of a Silver Rank Team before, and it gave him cause to worry a bit.

"Um… who are these Silver Rank members?" Berry asked, likely getting the same feeling as Dust.

"I think they called themselves Team Crimson Raiders, they consist of a Zoroark and a Jangmo-o. Isn't it cool that we get to see a real Dragon type spar? I know our Guild Master is a Dragon type, but you know, we don't get to see her in action much," Talon answered.

Dust and Berry tensed up at hearing who Team Crimson Raiders were. Dust decided to whisper to Berry, "Maybe we can hold off on training for the day?"

Before Berry could answer, they heard a loud voice. "Well! If it isn't Team Night Tide! I take it you two came here for training today."

Dust and Berry looked to see who was talking to them, and saw the Corviknight trainer flying over to them before landing in front of them.

Vesper gave a smile. "Good, good, it's always nice to see new Crusaders wanting to take their training seriously. In fact, you both have perfect timing. I was looking for a team to have a sparring match with Team Crimson Raiders, and I think you two would make excellent sparring partners."

"W-wait! We're only Normal Rank, we can't battle against a Silver Rank!" Berry quickly argued.

"Don't worry, it's only a sparring match," Vesper started to guide them towards the center of the room. "Plus, I heard from our Guild Master about your encounter with an outlaw. She shared her concerns with me and I agree, you two should at least have some practice battling with other Pokemon that are not wild. Team Crimson Raid will help you with this."

The other Normal Rank Pokemon who were watching were whispering to each other about how lucky they were to get to spar with a Silver Rank team. Dust and Berry, however, felt anything but lucky right now.

"Are you serious?" Blizza frowned when she saw who their opponents were going to be. "This has got to be a joke battle, right?"

"She has a point, Vesper," Crimson added. "It would be a waste of everyone's time if we were to battle. Seems hardly fair if you think about it."

"Non-sense, any sparring match is counted as training, even if you lose you'll learn how to better defend yourself against a stronger opponent, it's never a waste of time," Vesper adamantly said. "So I don't want to hear anymore griping, you will be facing Team Night Tide."

Crimson sighed, a bit annoyed. "Fine, but I suggest we do a one-on-one battle. I know you said it'd be for training, but still, we have to give them some fighting chance."

Vesper thought about it, before she turned to Dust and Berry. "If you agree to this, you can face them one on one."

"I-I-I don't agree t-t-t-to s-s-s-sparring period," Berry shivered, her body was shivering so hard that she felt like a massager on Dust's back.

"Coward," Blizza hissed in disgust.

"Easy now, Blizza." Crimson calmed his partner a bit. "Can't really blame them. But are you two really just going to refuse a simple sparring match? What happens if you come across a stronger Pokemon in a dungeon? Are you going to tell them you don't want to fight? If so, you might as well quit and stop wasting everyone's time."

Dust frowned at the challenge. Berry was still shaking behind him, and even though he knew they didn't stand a chance, he didn't want Crimson calling him and Berry scared cowards. Berry may not be the strongest Dragon type, nor did she even know she was a Dragon, but she was anything but cowardly if her bravery in yesterday's mission was anything to go by.

He looked at Vesper, feeling a mixture of both fear and determination building inside him. "I agree to the challenge."

This gave Crimson a surprised look. Dust was actually kinda glad he got a different reaction from the Zoroark. _I must be going crazy! _He thought to himself.

"You've gone crazy!" Berry hissed, agreeing with his thoughts.

"He does have a point. We got lucky last time, but I don't think our luck will last forever. Plus," He then turned to stare at Crimson, feeling more determination and a bit of courage building up inside. "I'm actually getting pretty annoyed with them constantly talking bad about us...It's actually weird, never felt like this before. Don't know why."

"Since Team Night Tide agreed to the one on one match, we will do so with the one on one rules," Vesper announced. "It's a duel between one Pokemon from each team. Items are not allowed. The battle will keep going until one or both of you faints. You'll be revived shortly after, so don't worry. Killing is, obviously, not allowed. You are free to use whatever moves you wish on each other. Now then… I will decide which Pokemon will face whi-"

"I want the cowardly dragon," Blizza spoke up, interrupting Vesper, glaring at Berry.

_Why do they call me a 'cowardly dragon'? Is that supposed to be an insult among Dragon types?_ Berry frowned in confusion, but flinched back from the glare she was receiving from the angry Dragon type.

"...Very well." Vesper noted. "Then that will leave Dust to spar against Crimson."

Crimson just grinned at Dust, satisfied to be battling him soon. Dust still felt that courage within, but parts of him was starting to say that maybe this wasn't such a good idea. Too late to back down now.

"For the first round, it will be between Crimson from Team Crimson Crusaders, and Dust from Team Night Tide," Vesper announced. "Ready yourselves."

Berry hopped off of Dust's back while Blizza backed away from the center, leaving the two Dark types to stare each other down while everyone else watched.

Dust took his position, but was surprised to see Crimson standing with his arms behind his back, a smug look on his face.

"Let's make this a bit more interesting. I'm gonna give you five chances to hit me. If you can managed to land one attack, it's your win. But after that...Well you'll find out soon enough," Crimson mockingly said.

_Five moves, well sound easier than it probably is. _Dust thought to himself, but he was confident enough that even if he can't hit him, he still might be able to defend against the Zoroark's attacks.

"On my mark." Vesper raised her right wing, preparing to give the signal. The room goes silent as they wait for her. After a few seconds, she quickly lowered her wing while shouting, "Begin!"

Dust went straight for an Ice Beam attack, aiming right for Crimson. The Zoroark showed some surprise but easily stepped to the side, dodging the attack. Dust then rushed forward to tackle Crimson, but just as Dust was about to make contact with his body, Crimson leaped forward, jumping over the Absol.

Landing with ease, Crimson turned to face Dust. "That's two moves, only three left. Please try to actually make this a challenge."

Dust stared at the Zoroark, trying to think of a plan. _Come on, think. He's definitely more experienced than you, and he's pretty confident in this match...Really confident..._ Dust started to form a plan, one that may work, especially since he only has three moves left to win.

Satisfied with his plan, Dust charged towards Crimson again, intending to use the same attack. Crimson just sighed and shook his head at seeing the same move again.

"Really?" Crimson rhetorically asked, easily jumping over Dust and dodging his attack.

But this time Dust turned around and fired an Ice Beam, not at Crimson, but where he was about to land. Crimson saw what Dust was planning but it was too late, Dust's attack had made part of the ground frozen and sleek with ice. As soon as he landed, he lost his footing and fell on his back. Dust took this chance to fire another Ice Beam. he was expecting to see a shocked expression on Crimson's face, but instead he only saw him grinning. The Ice Beam makes contact, hitting Crimson and causing his body to freeze. Dust now realized how hard his heart was beating during the match, but he was surprised that he actually managed to hit Crimson.

"I...did it!" Dust exclaimed.

"He actually did it…" Berry whispered in shock.

"Please, did you really think it would be that easy?" Blizza rolled her eyes.

"Gotta say, wasn't expecting that from you." Dust's eyes widened at hearing Crimson right behind him.

He turned around and was shocked to see Crimson, perfectly fine. He looked back to what he thought was a frozen Crimson, only for it to vanish. Then he realized that it was only just an illusion.

"Really don't like using my ability, so I give you props for making me use it." Crimson told Dust, grinning at the shocked Absol. "But it looks like you used up all your free hits. Now it's my turn."

Dust quickly recovered from his shock, he figured at this close range he might be able to hit Crimson with another Ice Beam. But as soon as he started to charge his attack, Crimson moved faster than Dust could see. One second he was standing a few feet in front of him, the next second Crimson was right next to him. Before Dust could react, Crimson swiped his claws at Dust, delivering a Sucker Punch to his face. The attack sent Dust flying a few feet back, landing with a hard thud on the ground.

"Now the real fun begins." Crimson got into a battle position, waiting for Dust to get up.

"Dust! Dust! Are you okay?" Berry called out in concern for her partner.

A few seconds went by as everyone waited for Dust to get up. Still nothing. A few more went by and others were starting to get a bit concerned.

Vesper went to go check on Dust after a while, and looked at him. There were swirls on his eyes, and he didn't look like he was getting up anytime soon. "Looks like Dust fainted. Crimson is the winner."

"What?!" Everyone in the room shouted, surprised that Dust was knocked out in one move.

"Seriously?" Crimson asked no one in particular. "That's it? I didn't even hit that hard!"

"Seems that the Absol was at an even lower level than the jelly blob!" Blizza laughed. "What a weakling! A puny little Caterpie could've survived that!"

"Don't insult Tippi!" Talon snapped, but was ignored.

Berry started to glare at the laughing Jangmo-o. "Stop laughing!"

"Blizza, hurry up with your match. I'll be waiting for you once you're done." Crimson shouted to his partner as he made his way out of the Dojo, he was rather disappointed that the fight was so short.

Vesper held out a seed with her wing, and dropped it into Dust's open mouth. Dust's body glowed a golden color, and he suddenly opened his eyes.

Dust quickly got up, looking around. "What happened?"

"You were knocked out," Vesper answered.

"You were swatted, like a newborn Bug type!" Blizza mocked as she walked up in the center.

"Are you okay, Dust?" Berry asked in concern, looking at Dust.

Dust was in deep thought, having an unfamiliar feeling inside. "I'm...well...physically fine."

"Hey, you! Get over here so we can get this over with!" Blizza shouted at Berry.

Berry frowned, but reluctantly, slithered towards the center. The audience that was watching pretty much all agreed that Berry was going to get creamed like her partner.

Vesper raised her wing. "Now, the second round, between Blizza from Team Crimson Raiders and Berry from Team Night Tide will commence…" she brought down her wing. "Now!"

"I hope you don't expect me to show mercy like Crimson did with your weakling of a partner," Blizza said before her tail began to glow with red and ominous energy. "You deserve to be humiliated!"

Blizza charged at Berry, Berry yelped before Blizza turned around, intending to hit her with her tail. Berry tried to dodge, and she did manage to avoid the brunt of the attack, but she was still hit by the tip of the tail, which caused her to fly a few feet away. Berry let out a cry of pain, not expecting it to hurt so much, it felt like someone hit her with a thorny whip that was dipped in lava and filled with Beedrill stingers that tore through her soft skin.

"Heh, too easy, like I thought." Blizza grinned.

Dust frowned in concern for Berry, that was a super effective hit Berry took since Blizza used Dragon Tail, whether Berry realized she was Dragon type or not, that had to be painful.

Berry twitched, and somehow, managed to cling to consciousness despite the super effective attack. Berry managed to upright her body, but she looked close to fainting already.

"Oh? How shocking, you're still conscious." Blizza frowned. "You're a little more durable than I thought, but you're looking like you could barely stand anymore, or are you even standing?"

Berry panted, trying to stay conscious.

Blizza, deciding she wanted to savor this moment with the cowardly, weak dragon, started to move around the weakened Goomy. "How utterly pathetic. We thought the Absol might've been worth something, Crimson was all excited to see what the Absol could do. But instead, the Absol was just one big disappointment. You know what? You two deserve each other, the weakest dragon along with the weakest and sorriest excuse for an Absol we had ever seen."

"Stop it…" Berry hissed.

"I wouldn't be surprised if that weak Absol became Pooycheyana chow, since he can't even stand up to his own typing! He's that pathetic!" Blizza mocked.

"He's not weak…" Berry growled.

Blizza laughed at Berry's words. "Of course he's weak, why else would he bother staying with someone like you? I can think of other reasons why. He'd probably thought someone else who was stronger than him could help him. Too bad he chose the wrong dragon. The weak will always stay that way. It's no wonder you guys showed up here. Only this guild would even consider accepting someone as weak as you as a Crusader."

Berry's glare became hard and venomess, a glare that Dust had never seen on the normally kind and timid Goomy.

Blizza didn't seem to notice or care. "And not to mention that he's-"

"SHUT UP!" Berry shouted, catching everyone by surprise, including the Jangmo-o.

Glowing rings of white light began to swirl around Berry's body. "You don't know the first thing about true strength! You preach about how only the strong will survive, and the weak will perish. Do you even know what makes someone weak? It's when they bully others with their own physical strength! Strong Pokemon, weak Pokemon, none of that should matter, we're all Pokemon. And I can't stand bullies like you who only value physical strength!"

Something was glowing near Berry's mouth. Dust could see some kind of blue and white orb that was getting denser as the rings around Berry's body caused it to grow. He couldn't believe what he was seeing.

"What's… happening?" Blizza was staring in shock.

Berry finished powering up whatever was in the orb, she let out a loud cry as she unleashed a powerful blue fire-like attack at the Jangmo-o. The attack was so intense that Dust, and he was sure everyone else in the room, could feel the intensity of the pressure and heat. Blizza couldn't dodge, all she could do was look at the powerful attack and scream when it hit her. The Dragon Breath slammed Blizza into the wall, leaving a rather big hole.

Finally, the Dragon Breath attack ended, Berry closed her eyes and her body flattened from exhaustion. Blizza fell off from the wall, completely unconscious.

Dust was in complete shock, but then something started to come to mind. _This pressure...This feeling...Why does it seem...familiar? _He then looked at the worn out Goomy, remembering the last time she was _that_ exhausted. As he thought more on it, from their fight with the Sandygast, to the recent battle just now, the pieces were slowly falling into place. _Berry...just how strong are you?_

It was then Dust realized how quiet the entire Dojo was. Everyone who had witnessed the powerful Dragon Breath were in shock, even Vesper was speechless. They were staring at the unconscious Jangmo-o, and the exhausted Berry.

Dust finally snapped out of it and rushed towards Berry, crouching low to get close her flattened body. "Berry! Are you okay?"

Berry groaned a little, opening her heavy eyes. "Is it… over now…?"

Dust laughed a bit, "Yeah, it's over. You won."

"What…?" Berry blinked.

Vesper finally snapped out of it. "It… it looks like Blizza is unable to battle, Berry is the winner!"

The audience finally snapped out of it, and were all talking to each other, shocked at what they had just witnessed. They were asking what level Berry was actually on, and if she had been hiding it all this time.

"Berry!" Talon flew towards Dust and Berry, with Tippi on his back. "Why didn't you tell us you were this strong?"

"What…? What are you talking about?" Berry asked tiredly, and clueless as to what everyone was talking about. "Didn't… Blizza knock me out?"

"Not exactly, but I'll explain more later." Dust said as he gently picked Berry up, placing her on his back. "For now, let's get back to our room so you can rest up."

"Here, take this Oran Berry, it'll help recover her energy faster," Vesper said, showing a wing with an Oran Berry on it. "I'll take care of the Jangmo-o."

"Thank you...Is she going to be okay?" Despite all the insults Blizza had said, Dust was still a bit concerned for the dragon Pokemon.

"She's got a lot of injuries, and her body is paralyzed. I'll have to take her to Dr. Perfume to make sure nothing's broken, but she should be fine, Jangmo-o can take a lot of punishments," Vesper explained.

Dust nodded and started to head out the Dojo. Pokemon were still whispering about the recent battle. Soon they came to their room where Dust managed to place Berry on top of the hay while placing the Oran Berry next to her.

"Dust… what… exactly happened…?" Berry tiredly asked, feeling like she just missed something incredibly major as she picked up the Oran Berry with the tip of her right antenna.

Dust scratched the back of his head, thinking how best to tell his partner what he witnessed. "Well…"

* * *

**Reviews**

**Greatest Guy****: Travelling Master: **Yup, very close call. But we can't just kill the main character this early in the story. That would make one short story. And fun little fact, when I first created Dust, his original name was Dusk. But then I decided to change it to Dust.

**DarkFoxKit:** What's funny is that the Sandygast wasn't even planned, it just kinda happened in the moment when I was looking at what kind of Pokemon usually lived on the beach.

**Guest****: DarkFoxKit:** 'Hood chapter'? You meant 'good chapter', right? Berry currently knows Tackle, Absorb, and Water Gun. Pretty much the low level basic move a Goomy would know. I'll let Travelling Master talk about Dust.

**Travelling Master: **Well Dust is a special case, since he avoided fighting for most of his life. So far he does know Bite, Leer, Protect and Ice Beam, but those last two moves were from using the Technical Machines. And they weren't mainly meant for battle, but for any research and tests he wanted to perform. But as the story progresses, he will start to learn other moves.

Now as for his eyes, we have mentioned a bit about mixed breeds in the past. Dust is a mixed breed, but will keep who his father is a secret for now. Can't really go into more details about his eyes without revealing too much, so all I can say is wait and _seeeeeee._ Get it.

**ArcherAmpharos****: DarkFoxKit:** Heh, though would she really be all that happy about it? It _would_ be pretty ironic if Berry had Sap Sipper, yet had been afraid of Grass types all her life. :3 Berry's backstory is definitely interesting, and it's been a lot of fun exploring it. As for Dust, yeah, he was meant to be irritating at first. He doesn't have a lot of social communication experience, he spent most of his life alone, or just with his mom. He saw other Pokemon as experiments, so his empathy was… pretty low. But he is learning and starting to care more for his partner.

The two Ponyta aren't actually related. They're just close friends, close enough to consider each other as brother and sister. But in this world, it is actually possible. Mixed breed is a thing, and unlike in the games, the offspring won't always hatch into the mother's species, there's a 50/50 chance it could be either the father or mother's species. So if a Galarian Ponyta and a Kantonian Ponyta mated, it's very possible for their children to be two different forms of Ponyta. Special qualities are added as well with mixed breeds, like Dust's blue eye for example.

**InfernalzRush****: DarkFoxKit:** Author and Co-Author are excited!

Author used reply, Reader is getting pumped up.

Author used update, Reader lost some time reading!

Funnily enough, my day wasn't all that great yesterday. My parents were being… well, jerks, and were rushing with something while dragging me into it, into the cold, with no jacket, because I didn't have time to put on a jacket. But thank you, I did wish I had a better Christmas. I'm glad you're enjoying the story we're writing. And well… Dust and Berry better be thankful it wasn't a Palossand, otherwise Dust would be dead, and Berry… would likely follow. It was a Sandygast that attacked them.

**Travelling Master: **Funny how you mentioned 4th wall break. When I first made Dust, that was always the running gag, he always had a knack for breaking the 4th wall. In fact, that probably explains how he keeps popping up in our AU notes.

**DarkFoxKit:** He needs to be put on a leash.

**Travelling Master: **To be fair, he has toned it down a lot. You should've seen him when he was first created, he practically ended up making his own account on this website.

**Unknown 2949****: DarkFoxKit:** Thank you.

**Travelling Master: **Really glad that you love the story so far. Hope you enjoy it even further.


	7. Chapter 7: A Goomy's Past

**DarkFoxKit: *Sees a lot of suitcases*** What's going on, Travelling Master? What's with all the suitcases?

**Travelling Master: **Hmm? Oh, I'm actually in the middle of moving. I fly out this week, everything is already packed. If I was a Charizard I would just fly to my next place...Then again… ***Lifts one of my suitcases* **These...are...pretty...heavy!

**Dust:** I could help you! I made a way to carry all those heavy suitcases so you can just sit back and relax.

**Travelling Master: **No offense Dust, but you're not exactly the strong type. I mean, you do remember what happened last chapter, right?

**Dust: **That was just a match! This is totally different.

**Travelling Master: **Okay, I'll bite. How do you plan on carrying all my suitcase? And please, don't involve any explosions, I got a lot of important stuff in there.

**DarkFoxKit:** Knowing Dust, it probably does.

**Dust:** Of course it doesn't! ***Holds out a remote control before pushing a button. A giant pink bubble appeared in front of Travelling Master*** Now, this bubble has similar priorities to Mew. You can slip your suitcases in here, then, all you have to do is tell it where you want it to go and it will teleport there. No hassle!

**DarkFoxKit:** Where and how did you get this Mew bubble?

**Travelling Master: **Doesn't matter, anything that involves Mew is just trouble. I wouldn't be surprised if my suitcases ended up halfway across the world. Or worse...Mew decides to use them to play her game.

**Dust:** Why are you two so worried? Mew isn't even in this story! So she can't come here. Now come on, the sooner you do this, the sooner you can get ready to leave.

**Travelling Master: **Nope! Not risking it! Rather get back pain than use that bubble!

**DarkFoxKit: *Touches the bubble herself, before the bubble suddenly floated to Travelling Master. The bubble absorbed Travelling Master inside it, then it proceeded to absorb the suitcases as well. After that, the bubble suddenly disappeared in a flash*** Uhhhh… I didn't do that.

**Dust: **That...was...BRILLIANT! I never really had a chance to test them before, but from the looks of it, they seem to be working perfectly! Do you know what this means?!

**DarkFoxKit:** That Travelling Master just got teleported to who knows where?

**Dust: **Yes, but besides that, mobile transportation is now possible! Think of what new possibilities this can bring. If I can further study this, I'm sure I can create a plethora of new travelling devices! I have to get started immediately!

**DarkFoxKit:** Dust! You better get your tail into the story! You made my co-writer lost, now you gotta work double time to make up for his absence!

**Dust: **But-

**DarkFoxKit:** *v* Would you like to make it triple? Or would you prefer to keep the reader's waiting? ***Starts to sharpen her claws*** I don't mind having some Absol meat tonight~

**Dust: *Rolls his eyes* **Please, I find it very hard to believe that you would eat an Absol. But you are right, shouldn't keep the readers waiting.

**DarkFoxKit:** Who said anything about eating you? That's disgusting.

**Dust: **But you just said that you wouldn't mind having some Absol meat tonight.

**DarkFoxKit:** Yup. Because when Eclipse gets through with you, you'll only be having your own dead meat left in my house.

**Dust: **...You make a very fine point...I'll get back to the story, you can go find wherever Travelling Master went. You were the last one to touch the bubble, so it should've sent him anyway that would be related to you.

**DarkFoxKit:** ***Grumbles*** Finding him isn't the problem… it's getting him out that will be… well, you have fun with Berry. Travelling Master may or may not kill you the next time he sees you. ***Grabs a helmet and a satchel before leaving***

* * *

**Chapter 7:** **A Goomy's Past**

"...After that we returned to our room so you can recover." Dust finished recounting Berry's battle with Blizza, making sure not to leave out any detail. He also shared how after Berry had used her special attack, it gave off a similar feeling to when they were battling the Sandygast from their previous mission. Now that he finished, he was waiting to see Berry's reaction.

While Dust was explaining what had happened, Berry had eaten the Oran Berry, which helped her recover her strength and energy.

"That… does sound pretty… wild," Berry finally said after a moment of thinking.

"You're telling me," Dust agreed. "Even Vesper was shocked after seeing what you did."

"You know, Dust… you don't have to lie to me to make me feel better," Berry suddenly said, which took Dust by surprise.

"Huh?" Dust blinked, confused.

"I don't know exactly what happened in the battle, but I'm pretty sure I blacked out, so it was likely I fainted and lost the battle," Berry clarified. "I know you're trying to make me feel better, but you don't have to. I can take a loss, you know, especially against a Dragon type."

Dust was at a loss for words. _Every word I said was true, so why did Berry not believe me?_

"But I'm telling the truth!" Dust slightly shouted, a little upset that Berry would doubt him. "Well granted, I do admit, it does sound a bit far fetched, but I promise you, I am not lying."

"Come on, Dust, you really expect me to believe that I, somehow, fired this big, blue fire attack at the Jangmo-o, blasted her through the wall, and she was so injured that she had to be taken to Dr. Perfume, even though she's likely several, and I mean _several_, levels above me? I can't even use Flamethrower or blue fire attack or whatever the heck that was!" Berry explained with her own sense of logic.

"Normally, yes, you would be right. We both were at a disadvantage. But I think something in you...I don't know? Snapped." Dust explained, trying to figure out himself how exactly Berry used such a strong attack.

"Are you sure that another Pokemon didn't step in to get her to shut up?" Berry asked. "Cause I'm pretty sure that would set somebody off after hearing all those insults."

Dust shook his head. "I know what I saw. She did say many insults, and I'm sure others would have loved to step in, but that Jangmo-o was a Silver Rank. No one would even think of interrupting a sparring match between you and her."

"Do you even know what this big and powerful move I supposedly used was?" Berry inquired.

"No...I was actually hoping you would know. It didn't look like any of your other moves. The attack seemed to resemble a Flamethrower attack, but blue instead of the natural red. And it seemed to have a strong effect on Blizza, so I'd assume it must be some sort of Dragon type attack," Dust explained, thinking over Berry's powerful attack.

Berry looked at Dust for a moment, before sighing. "How should I know? I didn't see it. So let me get this straight… after I got hit by that tail attack Blizza did to me, which really, really hurts by the way, she started throwing insults about you and me, then I finally pass out… then I somehow just use this super powerful Dragon type attack on Blizza, injuring her pretty badly in the process, then I wake up to you telling me I won. I'm going to need you to really think about how this sounds to me, Dust."

Now that he was hearing it from someone else, he did admit, it was a bit of a stretch. If it wasn't for the fact that he was there when it happened, he would probably be having a hard time believing it too. Despite everything he said, he didn't know what else to say to help convince his partner of how strong she truly was. But then, he wasn't the only one who saw it, several other Pokemon were there to witness it as well. It was bound to spread across the guild like wildfire.

"Okay, I admit, it is pretty hard to believe. But what if you heard it from others?" Dust gave his solution.

"I don't know… I'd probably question why the others would tell me this…" Berry let out a sigh, not really looking too keen on continuing this conversation.

"Well it's pretty late now, I doubt there are many others up and about. So how about tomorrow we go see Vesper, she can tell you what she saw," Dust suggested, determined to convince Berry what really happened.

"Fine, if it'll make you satisfied, we'll go to the Dojo tomorrow and get this straightened out," Berry sighed tiredly. "Can we please talk about something else now? This is getting kind of… annoying."

Dust hadn't realized until now how Berry was feeling. He mentally smacked himself over getting over focused and not noticing how Berry was doing. "Right…" Dust thought for a moment, his mind still on the whole fight when he recalled how he originally wanted to know about Berry and her childhood. "Hey Berry, what was your life like? Before the guild?"

Berry gave a curious look to Dust. "Do you really want to know? I wasn't exactly in a well known guild, where my parents were these famous Crusaders or anything, my family are just ordinary Quagsire and Wooper, living out in a forest swamp."

"Well for one, I am curious. I've been constantly trying to convince you that you are a Dragon Type, only based off assumption. As I think about it more, I realized it was a bit unfair to assume that of you," Dust explained. "Since we are partners, I want to better understand what their life was like. I've been going through life constantly hearing all sorts of rumors and insults from everyone as they just assumed they already knew who I was. Very hypocritical of me since I've basically have been doing the same to you."

Berry shrugged a bit. "It's no big deal, really. I'm more annoyed that you keep trying to tell me I'm a Dragon type than I am at your assumptions. If you're willing to hear my life story, I guess I don't mind telling it."

Dust laid down on the hay bed next to Berry, getting himself comfortable before the Goomy began her story.

* * *

**Berry's Flashback**

My earliest memory was seeing my mother's face for the first time. She was big and blue, her eyes were like tiny dots, and her mouth was pretty long and stretchy. She looked pretty baffled when she saw me. I heard other little voices around me, and I looked to my right and left, seeing other small blue creatures who looked similar to my mom, but they had no hands, and their feet were tiny. They had these three line markings on their belly, and they had these purple antenna sticking out from the sides of their head. They were all looking at me curiously. Seeing that I was surrounded by them, I figured I was one of them as well.

"Damp, our children are beautiful, but…" A deep voice spoke up, and I looked up, seeing another blue creature who looked like Mom, but was taller. "What is that… purple one?"

Mom leaned in closer, getting a better look at me. "I'm...not sure. I hope this one isn't ill."

"It looks… strange… are you sure it's one of our's?" The bigger creature asked my Mom. "They should all be Wooper, especially since they are all pure breeds."

Mom reached towards me, gently picking me up and holding me between her arms. "Doesn't matter how strange it looks, it hatched from our nest and is one of our children."

I already loved Mom, I could tell she cared about me. Though she did squeeze me a little, probably because of how gooey my body was. The other creature, who I later learn is my Quagsire father, didn't look all that happy about it, but he didn't argue with Mom.

"What are you going to call it then?" Dad asked.

"Come now, Wave, she's not an 'it'," Mom huffed.

"How can you tell if it's a girl?" Dad frowned.

"Mother's just know these things," Mom said. "As for her name…"

Mom looked at me as I smiled at her.

"Maybe… Purple?" Mom wondered.

"If it were up to me, I'd call her Squashed Berry, because that's what she looks like," Dad huffed.

"Hush, you!" Mom snapped before she gave a thoughtful look. "Well… Berry might not be a bad name for her. She does kinda look like a purple berry."

"Sure, whatever." Dad rolled his eyes.

So I grew up with my siblings and parents. Dad loved teaching my siblings new moves they could use, but he rarely talked to me. I don't think he liked me too much, and he thought Mom might have had me with another Pokemon at one point. I didn't care that much, though I was a little jealous that he paid so much more attention to my siblings, Mom at least made sure to teach me how to use Water Gun.

As we grew older, Mom decided to take us out for our first swim in the water. My siblings were also starting to distance themselves from me because of how weird and different I was, except for two of them. They likely learned this behavior from our dad, who always kept himself at a distance from me. But it wasn't too bad, at least at the time.

"Come on, kids, it's time to learn how to swim. We are Water and Ground type, swimming is essential for us, we must keep our bodies hydrated, and cool. Mud is a good alternative if we need to be wet and cool from the hot sun," Mom explained to us. "You may also get to meet some of our neighbors while we're swimming."

All my siblings cheered, excited to get the chance to swim. Mom then lead us towards a big pond that was near our home. Even though it was a pond, at the time it looked like the size of an ocean. I was excited to dip my body into the large water.

"Mommy, is it really okay to let all of us swim?" One of my sisters, Hopper, asked. "I mean… do you really think the squashed berry would be able to swim? She doesn't have a tail or feet to help her in the water."

"Yeah!" My brother, Splash, agreed. "She should just wait on the shore and watch us from there. I don't want to stop swimming if she starts drowning."

"She can barely move on land as it is." Sticky, another one of my brothers, snickered.

"I can… I can swim," I said timidly. "I'm sure I can."

"If you swim as good as you move on land, you'll definitely sink to the bottom." One of my brothers, Mudster, laughed while agreeing with Sticky.

"How do you know she'll suck at swimming?" One of my sisters, Slappy, frowned. "Maybe she's better in the water than she is on land."

"Yeah! And what's wrong with being near the bottom? That's where all the dirt and mud is at!" Digger, the last of my brother, smiled.

"Alright, children, that's enough," Mom spoke up, stopping anyone else from saying anything. "I will stay by Berry's side to make sure she doesn't drown."

"Hmph, Mama's Girl," Mudster sneered.

I lowered my own, weird antennae. I knew I stuck with my mom more than my other siblings, but Mom was always worried about me. She was worried I would suddenly fall ill and just keel over or something, so she made sure to keep a close eye on me. This didn't help with my siblings' relationship though.

Mom started to wade into the water, gesturing for the rest of us to follow her in. Splash, Sticky, Hopper, Mudster, and Slappy all hopped into the water, and they started to swim instinctively. Digger and I hesitated. Digger preferred being around the ground and mud, he wasn't sure how he felt around water. And I was more worried about drowning.

"Do we have to learn about swimming?" Digger asked Mom. "I'd be fine with just covering myself in mud my whole life."

"Yes, Digger, water is a source of life for many Pokemon. You can't hide from it forever," Mom answered.

I nudged Digger a little, a little self conscious about getting my slime on him since I couldn't stop secreting them. "Hey… um… I'll go in if you do… we could go in… together."

He looked at the ground, to the water, then finally turned to me and gave a little nod. "Okay, together then."

Both of us took a deep breath, then, we both jumped and splashed into the water. As soon as my body hit the water, I felt rejuvenated. We always had some water around us before, but they were very shallow, and I didn't realize how uncomfortably dry my body felt until I jumped into the big body of water for the first time in my young life. I loved it, I wanted to stay in it forever, and best of all, I wasn't drowning. I could actually breathe underwater. I also found it was easier to move my body underwater than it was on land. I could see Digger was already moving around underwater himself, he moved faster than I did, but I was able to at least move easier than on land.

I came up to the surface to smile at Mom, showing her that I could swim. "Look at me, Mommy! I can swim! I can go underwater without drowning!"

"I knew you could." Mom smiled at me and Digger, glad that all her children were having a wonderful time swimming.

"See, I knew you could swim!" Slappy shouted at seeing me jump in the pond with Digger.

My other siblings were looking at me, but they didn't say anything. Instead, they decided to go enjoy swimming around the pond.

I decided to explore as well, it was nice to just swim around without worrying about my siblings, or my Mom being a little overprotective. Then I came across a curious, big lily pad. I had never seen a lily pad that big before, so I curiously swam towards it. When I got close, I wanted to try to see if it could support me weight, since the lily pad looked big and thick enough to support someone like me. So I started to slither on it, when suddenly it jerked up, and I yelped as I fell back into the water headfirst. I quickly came up to the surface, shaking my head a bit, and was shocked to see the 'lily pad' was the head of a Pokemon.

"What's the big ideal?!" The lily pad Pokemon rosed up, appearing a lot bigger than just seconds ago. The Pokemon glared angrily at me, annoyed to have his nap interrupted. "What do you think you're doing climbing on someone's head?!"

The Pokemon was huge compared to me, they had much longer arms than Mom did, their mouth had this big lip thing that made me uncomfortable, and its eyes looked angry. I sank in the water, scared of this big, angry Pokemon.

"Daddy?" I heard another voice speak up.

Another, smaller lily pad floated towards the big, scary looking Pokemon, before it lifted itself up, revealing a small, blue Pokemon, with big yellow lips.

"Is it time to wake up already? I was enjoying the sun on my lily pad." The small lily pad Pokemon yawned.

Later on, I learn that these Pokemon were called Lotad and Lombre. I had apparently disrupted the Lombre's sun time while he was napping underwater. My mother heard the commotion and quickly swam towards me and the two Water/Grass Pokemon.

"Berry! Are you okay?" Mom quickly picked me up, checking to see if I was okay. She then turned towards Lombre while giving them a hard glare. "Did you do anything to my child? So help me Mew if you harmed any part of her body I will-"

"Now hold on one second!" Lombre interrupted my Mom. "Me and my child were minding our own business, enjoying our afternoon nap when that... creature hopped on top of my head, waking us both up."

"I… I thought… you were a lilypad…" I nervously explained.

The Lombre frowned before he looked at Mom. "Damp, did you say this was your child? Are you sure it's your child? It does not look like a Wooper."

"It doesn't matter what she looks like, she is my child no matter what." Mom replied sharply, upset about Lombre's question towards me.

Then more Pokemon started to approach us, at the time, I didn't know what they were. They were Pokemon like Gulpin, Venipede, Pidove, Goldeen, Oddish, and maybe more, but I couldn't remember how many different kinds were there at the time.

"Don't you mind them, Berry," Mom said to me. "You just enjoy yourself, okay?"

I frowned a little, but nodded as Mom put me back in the water and I quickly went underwater to get away from the eyes. However, I soon discovered underwater wasn't that best of a places to hide since there were a lot of Water Pokemon that could easily see me.

I decided to go find my Wooper siblings. I was able to find them easily enough due to my antennae able to sense my surroundings. I saw that they were playing with another group of children. The other children, I later learned, were called Mudkip. They share a similar typing to the Wooper family, so maybe that's why they got along so easily. I noticed they were tossing a mud ball around, and it looked like fun. I quickly started swimming towards them.

"H-hey! Can I join the game you're all playing?" I called out.

One of the Mudkip caught the mudball when I reached them. They had a curious look on their face, wondering what kind of Pokemon I was. "Uh...what are you exactly?"

"I'm a Wooper, just like with the other kids you're playing with," I answered.

Mudkip was pretty skeptical, so they then turned to my siblings. "Do you know this Pokemon?"

I looked to my brothers and sisters, but they all quickly shook their heads.

"We've never seen this messed up looking berry of a Pokemon before!" Mudster quickly said.

"Yeah, we don't know why it's coming over here and claiming it's a Wooper," Hopper sneered.

"Looks nothing like one. Looks more like a squashed berry to me." Sticky snickered.

"B-but I'm Berry, your sister!" I shouted. "Slappy, Digger, you two will back me up, right?"

"Uh…" Slappy looked at the Mudkip children, who were giving them weird looks. "Well… you're…"

"She likes mud!" Digger suddenly said, not really understanding why their siblings were acting strange towards me. "Y-yeah… mud is good, right?"

"Um… hey, maybe you should… go somewhere else right now?" Slappy suggested quietly to me.

I was shocked, I didn't think the only two siblings who actually liked me were telling me to leave or pretending they didn't know me.

"Yeah, get out of here, nobody wants you here," Splash hissed. "And you're interrupting our game!"

"S-sorry…" I apologized, wanting to cry, and I just went underwater and spent the rest of the day there until it was time to go home.

I didn't interact with a lot of Pokemon after that. I stayed with Mom for the most part, but she would socialize with other Pokemon. Two Swanna were speaking in some kind of fancy accent, and were telling Mom that I couldn't possibly be a Wooper, I was far too 'deformed' and 'ugly' to be one. Mom stopped talking to them after that. I felt responsible for Mom losing her friends, because everyone saw me as weird and ugly.

Mom decided to try to cheer me up, and she began to tell me stories about guilds, and how everyone respected the Crusaders because they were strong Pokemon, it didn't matter what they looked like, they always worked as a team. Crusaders were strong Pokemon, trained to help civilized Pokemon like us when we needed it. She told me about how the Dragon types were the most respected Crusaders due to their legends alone. I was inspired when I heard about that, and decided that I wanted to be a Crusader too.

That was when I made… probably my biggest mistake yet to this day.

It was a hot summer that day, and I wanted to try to get stronger so I could join a guild and become a respected Crusader. I was trying to sneak away from everyone else so I could try using my moves and see what I could do. I didn't realize that one of my brothers had followed me.

Because it was so hot, a lot of Grass type Pokemon were out to enjoy the sun's rays, but for me, it was making me on edge and grumpy. I didn't like being hot, nor did I like the sun too much. So I was already in a bad mood. I shot out a weak Water Gun from my mouth to hit a rock as a target, then I heard Splash's voice snickering behind me.

"Wow, from all that time you spend with Mom, I was at least expecting you to be somewhat decent with Water Gun. But that was just pathetic." Splash laughed.

I turned and looked at Splash, feeling incredibly annoyed. "It's really hot today. And why are you here? I just wanted to see if I could get stronger so I could become a Crusader one day."

"You, a Crusader?!" Splash laughed even harder this time. "First you're funny looking, now what you say is just hilarious. There's no way someone like you could be a Crusader."

I was getting angrier with every word Splash said, and I felt drained from the hot sun. My vision started to blur a bit as I narrowed my eyes at Splash.

"I could be, and when I am one, then you and everyone else will have to respect me!" I snapped.

"I'll respect you when Spoink fly!" Splash mocked. "No one is ever going to respect you."

I couldn't take it anymore, all those frustrations and anger being built up over the years of being teased and ignored, I suddenly jumped at Splash and used Tackle on him with my head. Splash fell back a few inches, surprised by my sudden attack. I was too angry to care at the time, I just wanted to hurt him.

He got back up, no longer snickering but now glaring at me. "So you want to fight. I've been waiting for a chance like this for a long time."

Faster than I'd expect him to be, he jumped towards me, using his entire body to Slam hard against me. Despite having a squishy body, I felt the hard blow throughout my entire body. The attack sent me flying farther than I had sent him from my earlier attack.

I groaned, realizing that Splash was at a higher level, likely due from all his training with Dad. I didn't want to stop, however, not until I made Splash regretted every word he said. So despite my injured body, I got back up and lunged at Splash again with another Tackle attack. Splash easily avoided it by jumping out of the way, and I felt even angrier when I missed and I heard him snickering.

"You're so pathetic. It's no wonder Dad doesn't like you so much. He's mad that Mom turned away from her friends. All because of you." At first Splash was snickering, but then he started to get angry, being jealous of how much time Mom spent with me. "She gives all her attention to a weak, deformed, ugly Pokemon who causes nothing but trouble for everyone around her! The only thing you're good at is making Mom and everyone else miserable! She would be better off if you were never here!"

At those words, it felt like the world stopped, and my heart went cold. Those words hurt far worse than that Slam attack he did to me earlier. I opened my mouth to try to retaliate, but instead of words, I could only let out screams of anger and sadness. I blacked out after that. I didn't know what happened, but when I came to again, I felt both tired yet rejuvenated at the same time. It was a strange feeling. But what shocked and scared me was seeing Splash there, lying on the ground, looking lifeless and pale. My anger forgotten, I quickly slithered closer to Splash to see if he was okay. My worry only grew when I saw how dried up his body was, he even looked somewhat shriveled, it scared me.

I looked around frantically for help, and I saw a Vileplume not too far away, looking at us. I was about to ask it to help, when suddenly blue arms grabbed and picked up Splash. I looked up, seeing it was Dad, who was glaring at the Vileplume.

"What...What did you do?!" Dad yelled at the Vileplume, shocked by his outburst.

"I-I...It w-wasn't-" Vileplume tried to explain themselves, but Dad cut them off by fire multiple Mud Shots at the Grass/Poison Pokemon.

He didn't let up his attack, even after the Vileplume managed to runaway, he kept on fire at where it ran off to. I lowered myself to the ground, I had never seen Dad this angry before, and I was worried he might try to attack me next. But then I was suddenly picked up from the ground and I'm shocked and relieved to see that it was Mom who grabbed me.

After Dad was done with his rage towards the Vileplume, he hurried back to our nest with Splash in his arms, Mom followed as well.

Not long after we go home, Dad got the local doctor Pokemon to look over Splash, who was still unconscious and shriveled up. The Pokemon was an Audino who lived near the swamp.

"It looks like your son was sucked nearly completely dry from either a Mega Drain or a Giga Drain attack," Audino diagnosed. "He's still alive, but it's hard to tell if he'll come out of his coma anytime soon. You'll have to keep him hydrated, and hope his body will recover from this."

All my siblings gathered worriedly around Splash. I was watching from a distance, feeling guilty. I knew it was my fault, because I started that fight, we must've accidentally provoked the Vileplume, and it attacked Splash with a Mega or Giga Drain, and it might've gotten me too since I was unconscious as well before Mom and Dad found us. I probably got lucky though, and only got hit by a small bit of its attack, while Splash got the brunt end of it.

Each passing day only filled me with more guilt, there were still no signs of Splash waking up. Most of us were afraid what might happen to him. Mom and Dad spent most of their time staying with Splash, with Mom occasionally checking on us but would quickly return. Finally, after the third day, we got news that Splash had woken up.

With Splash awake, all of us were happy and relieved. My siblings quickly jumped him, happy to see he was awake now. Splash groaned a little, still feeling weak.

"Let him, breathe, children," Mom said, getting my siblings to back off him. "Splash, how are you feeling?"

Splash looked around a bit, trying to collect his thoughts. "...Tired…"

"Splash…" I spoke up, and Splash suddenly tensed up. "Um… I'm sorry about that fight… I was just-"

He didn't say anything, only that he had a scared look in his eyes. He tried pushing himself away from me, but his body was still exhausted. Dad, seeing how uncomfortable I was making Splash, quickly blocked him from me and my siblings.

"Alright, that's enough. Let him rest," Dad said, but he was mostly staring at me.

"Y-yes, sir…" I bowed my head and slithered away.

* * *

"I hadn't spoken to Splash since then. He didn't want to get anywhere near me anymore. My siblings tried to ask him why he suddenly seemed scared of me, but… he would never say. I can only assume that he blames me for putting him in that coma in the first place," Berry sighed. "Nothing really major happened after that. I just… when I got old enough, I left my home to find a guild to join, and I heard about this place from Sunny and Twilight when they were passing through. I asked them to take me here, and… I guess the rest is history."

Dust had listened patiently and with great interest to Berry's childhood. He was most interested when she mentioned what had happened to her brother. He suspected that it might not have been the Vileplume that attacked Splash, but Berry herself. But he decided it would be best to keep that to himself.

"...Seems like you've been through a lot. Sorry to hear that about your brother." Dust gave his condolences. "But thank you for sharing this with me. I'm sure it must have been rather...difficult recounting some of those memories."

"Sort of. I did leave out a lot of details because I felt they weren't that necessary," Berry admitted. "I just told you what I thought was necessary so you'd know what motivated me to come to the Unity Guild in the first place. I want to get stronger so others would respect me, but I also want to be able to protect those I care about. I haven't been doing a very good job in either department though..."

Dust was about to bring up their fight with Sandygast and how he believed it was her that saved him, but remembered how upset she was starting to get from his constant explaining.

"Well I haven't exactly been the best partner either. I did leave you behind during our test mission." He gave her a friendly smile. "But in the end you decided to stay with me. Just like how I decided to turn down Crimson's offer to join his team and instead stay with you."

"Like I said, nobody is perfect, and I know we could be a better team if we keep trying to work together," Berry said. "Mom told me how teams have to learn to live with each other and work together, and some might have an easier time than others, but as long as they stick to it, they would be able to overcome anything. I don't know if it was fate, the hands of Mew herself, or just coincidence, but since you were chosen as my partner, I decided to stick with you. Besides, I liked that you didn't call me a deformed, 'what the heck is that' Pokemon like how most others did when I first met them."

"Well I prefer to see others for who they are, not what they are." Dust added. "Plus, you're the first partner who stuck with me for this long."

"Well, let's hope I can make it longer than," Berry chuckled before yawning. "I'll… go ahead and sleep now… goodnight, Dust."

"...Goodnight," Dust replied.

Dust was studying the flat and sleeping Goomy. It was hard to believe this same, timid, adorable little Goomy was the same one who blasted Blizza into the wall of the Dojo. Apparently if Berry was pushed too hard, she could become a dangerous powerhouse. He then thought about how he felt that strong pressure each time, and wondered if this is what his mother meant when she explained how an Absol had the unique ability to sense an oncoming danger. If this is what she was talking about, he would have to pay more attention if anything were to happen like the recent battle.

As he thought of Berry and her fight, he recalled his sparring match with Crimson, getting that unfamiliar feeling in his chest. _What is this feeling? Never felt anything like it before. _He thought more on his fight, to his recent missions and the many encounters he had with the wild Pokemon. It just dawned on him that obtaining Gold Rank at his current level would be much harder than he originally thought. There was still that secret mission Grace had given him, but there was no guarantee that he would find it. He'll keep an open eye just in case, but right now, he realized that he needed to start improving himself if he wants any chance of raising his rank.

Despite being fully recovered from his fight with Crimson, Dust was actually surprised by how exhausted his body actually was. It felt as though he had just returned from completing a long mission. He figured it was mostly due to being in a lying position and listening to Berry's childhood for a long time, so he just brushed it off as something normal and gave a yawn before letting his body fully succumb to slumber.

* * *

Elsewhere in the guild, Crimson was waiting for Blizza to finish playing with the weakest Dragon type ever, but he was starting to lose his patience after it had been an hour, and Blizza still hadn't met up with him yet in their room.

"I swear if she sent that so-called Dragon Pokemon to the infirmary I'm gonna…" He didn't finish his sentence, instead he opted to go check on his partner and see what's taking her so long.

Exiting the room, he walked through the hallway, occasionally running into a few Pokemon along the way. He didn't pay much attention to them, they weren't really worth his time, and right now he just wanted to find Blizza. Soon he came across the Dojo and was surprised to see hardly any Pokemon in there. He was about to enter when a Vigoroth stopped him.

Vigoroth held up his claws. "Sorry buddy, Dojo's closed for the time being. Gotta fix one of the walls here."

Crimson gave a confused but annoyed look. "What happened to one of the walls?"

"You didn't hear?" Vigoroth asked, somewhat shocked. "Almost everyone has been talking about it. That battle between that little dragon and the snail looking one was crazy. One of them ended up blasting the other one through the wall."

"Oh… that's not very surprising, I guess Blizza decided to get a little too rough with that weak gooey snail Pokemon. I'll have to have a talk with her about sending weaklings to the infirmary though, it'll make our team look bad if she keeps pulling stunts like this," Crimson sighed.

"Oh, are you the dragon's partner?" Vigoroth asked. "If you're looking for her, she's in the Medical Room."

Crimson was a bit confused that Blizza would be in the Medical Room. _It isn't like her to stay with her opponents after beating them. _He guessed that she probably went too overboard in their battle and got herself in trouble. _Wouldn't be surprised to see Vesper or the Guild Master scolding her. _

"Better get her before she causes more trouble." Crimson said mostly to himself.

He left the Vigoroth, going straight towards the Medical Room. Along the way, there were other Pokemon out and about. Again, he would've ignored them, but he caught part of what they were saying, about the match between Blizza and that weakling.

"Can you believe it? I almost couldn't."

"Yeah, I wouldn't have believed it if I didn't see it myself."

"To think that the Dragon type would've been blasted through the wall like that from that… uh… Bug… Water type…?"

This caused Crimson to slow down almost to a halt. _Did I hear that correctly? _He turned back only to see the Pokemon were already heading off in another direction. _No, I just misheard them._

He continued on, but he passed another pair of Pokemon, talking about what had happened in the Dojo, and it was almost similar to what he heard last time.

"Who would've thought a Silver Rank would lose to a Normal Rank."

"I know, right?! If I hadn't seen it for myself, I wouldn't have believed it myself."

"Maybe I could do that too if I work hard enough."

"I wonder if that Normal Rank Pokemon was just hiding how strong they really are. There's no way they're under level 10."

Crimson began running to the infirmary, he _needed_ to know what happened. The Zoroark soon reached the Medical Bay, and he rushed to the counter.

"Is Blizza Jangmo-o in here?" Crimson demanded the Chansey.

Chansey was surprised by the sudden question. "B-Blizza? She's inside. Unless you have some sort of relationship with her, only medical staff can see her. She's still recovering."

Crimon's patience was running thin. He was now more confused and wanted answers more than before, but he managed to keep a calm look on himself. "I'm her partner. We are the Crimson Raiders."

"O-oh, oh of course," Chansey said, looking through her charts. "Um… right this way."

Crimson followed the Chansey to Blizza's hospital room. As soon as Crimson saw Blizza lying in the hospital bed, he hurried over to her. Blizza was conscious, but she was wrapped up in gauze, and seemed to be unable to move much. However, Crimson wasn't concerned for Blizza, he wanted answers from her.

"Blizza, what happened?!" Crimson shouted to his partner. Blizza, at seeing Crimson, frowned and looked away.

Crimson was about to demand that Blizza would answer him, but the Chansey spoke up. "Don't yell at her. If you must know what happened, she got hit by a very powerful Dragon Breath attack from the Goomy, powerful enough to slam her into the Dojo's wall and break it."

Crimson was left speechless, wondering to himself what he had missed when he left. He regained his composure, still upset but making sure not to let it out. "How long will until my partner makes a full recovery?"

"It'll take her about 3 to 5 days, depending on how cooperative she is," Chansey answered.

Crimson nodded slowly as he turned to his partner. "Can we have a moment to ourselves? I just want to see how she is doing."

Chansey looked at Crimson for a moment. "... Very well, but if I hear yelling, I will cut this visit short."

With that said, the Chansey left the room, giving Crimson and Blizza some privacy.

As soon as Team Crimson Raiders were alone, Blizza let out an annoyed growl. "Did you come to see how pathetic I became? I actually _lost_ to that little blob…"

Crimson stared at his partner for a few seconds before answering her question. "Is what she said true? Did that... Goomy do so much damage to leave you stuck here?"

Blizza frowned as she recalled how Berry suddenly gained a backbone and snapped at her, before she blasted her with a Dragon Breath so powerful that she thought a fully evolved Dragon type hit her with a Dragon Pulse attack.

"Although I'd rather say 'no', it is indeed true, Crimson. That Goomy… When she hit me with her Dragon Breath attack, it felt like a Salamence hit me with a powerful Dragon Pulse attack. I've taken strong Dragon Breath attacks before, but it never hurt like the one that Goomy did to me," Blizza explained. "I didn't realize that little runt could even use such a powerful move. She can't be as weak as she's letting on if she could blast me into the wall like that."

Crimson shook his head, letting out a sigh. "Whether she has been holding back this whole time or not, still doesn't change the fact that you lost." Blizza was about to argue but he held up his claw. "You've been training for a longer time than she has. She may have some power behind her attacks, but you should've seen it coming. Were you paralyzed? Frozen? Were you unable to move for any reason?"

"...No…" Blizza frowned while looking away. "It caught me by surprise though…"

"You underestimated your opponent and instead of just beating her quickly, you decided to toy with her. You gave her the chance to retaliate. The only one to really blame for your loss is yourself." Crimson explained.

The Jangmo-o frowned, before she grumbled a little, still feeling embarrassed that she lost either way. Then she sarcastically quipped. "So what now? You going to find yourself a new partner?"

Crimson shook his head again. "If you think that, then you're a bigger fool than I thought. If I wanted a replacement partner every time you lose a battle, I wouldn't have any partner. There will always be some losses, but on how much depends on us. I know you can become stronger, much stronger, it's why I chose you to be my partner after all."

"And I will get stronger, so much stronger, I'll evolve, and I'll never lose to that slug of a dragon ever again," Blizza promised.

"Then stop wasting time. The sooner you get out of here, the sooner we can continue with our training." Crimson said before he started leaving his partner.

Even though he had gotten his answers, he was far from satisfied. After hearing what happened today, he'd be keeping a closer eye on Team Night Tide. Especially on that Goomy.

* * *

**Reviews**

**Guest****: DarkFoxKit: **I will try my best to answer from what I can interpret from your words. The four move rule… not necessarily, but it would be easier to just focus on a few moves at a time. Most Pokemon, while they can retain all the moves they've learned in their lifetime, they only use the moves they deem useful or powerful. Like I doubt you would want to use Tackle when you can use Body Slam for example. It makes it harder to want to go back to these weaker, earlier moves. Or there's a reason why a Pokemon don't like using a certain move, like using Bite, while it can be pretty powerful early on, it does require the Pokemon to have to use their mouth and bite down on an enemy, which means they could potentially bite down a Grimer or a Slugma, you really wouldn't want to do that.

**Dust: **I can personally vouch for that. Hi there, normally you see me before the chapter or during the chapter, but since Travelling Master is still missing, I'll be filling in for him. So just like DarkFoxKit said, Bite is a perfect example. I know the move, but rarely do I use it. Do like biting into something that I don't want in my mouth. Could you imagine biting a Muk? No thank you.

Funny how you mentioned the Technical Machine, "Ice Beam." While I would've loved to keep it with me, as soon as my mother found out she immediately took it away and forbade me from _borrowing_ any other Technical Machines. That and they also get used up here… so someone would have to recycle them.

**DarkFoxKit:** Um… Goomy learns Dragon Breath after Water Gun, at least according to the 8th generation. Pokemon's moves keep changing every generation. Seems Goomy no longer learns Bide either… huh… well, Berry might learn that at some point. As for if Berry will learn and accept she's a Dragon type, well… she will eventually, just… not any time soon. Or rather… she will learn she's a Dragon type, but learning and accepting it are two different things.

If Pokemon have natures in Mystery Dungeon, then Berry is Modest. She is shy around those she doesn't know, but not to the point of staying timid. Besides, Goodra isn't very fast, so Modest would be better than Timid on it.

Komoo…? Are you talking about Blizza the Jangmo-o? Where did you get 'Komoo'? Or did you mistake Blizza as a Kommo-o? She's not a Kommo-o yet, she's only a Jangmo-o. And the reason why she's criticizing Dust for not being able to stand up to his own type is because he's supposed to be resistant to it… well, it looks like you answered your own question there.

**Greatest Guy****: Dust: **Well, from what everyone saw, Berry does have some sort of hidden strength within. And fighting was never my forte, but I was really sure I'd at least land one hit on Crimson. Guess that's what happens when you spent most of your life studying rather than training.

**DarkFoxKit:** Berry is, in the technical terms, not that much stronger than Dust. They are roughly at the same level in terms of battle experience. The only reason Berry was so strong was due to a hidden outburst she had. Think of how Ash's Chimchar worked, he was not that strong normally, but when he gets pushed into a corner and on his last legs, he suddenly becomes a powerhouse, and attacks wildly. But it does have its drawbacks, it puts him in a vulnerable position, and after the attack is over, they become very tired, to the point of near unconsciousness. I'm not sure if you saw that, but it was the best example I could give in terms of Pokemon.

**ArcherAmpharos****: Dust: **Thank you, it was the best I could come up with at the time, especially since Crimson only allowed me five chances to hit him. I could tell from the start that he was stronger than me. Also, concerning Berry, looks like we both share similar curiosity. Ever since that battle, I've been keeping a close eye on her, hopefully we both find out they mystery behind Berry.

**DarkFoxKit:** Yeah, I wouldn't count on the games for biology logic. I mean look at how some of the Pokemon hatch. A Cubone hatches with its mother skull already on its head. Or a Kangaskhan hatches as a full grown adult with a baby in her pouch already. You can see why we decided to take some liberties of how the biology works. We will still be following things like egg groups though, and mixed breeds won't have crossbreeding traits, like how a Kantonian Ponya won't suddenly start learning Psychic powers because one of its parents was a Galarian Ponyta, but they will still have some unique traits about them. We hope you enjoy the next chapter!

**InfernalzRush****: DarkFoxKit:** Author used next update.  
Reader's anticipation went up!

Dust joined the battle.

Dust used Ramble.

Reader became confused!


	8. Chapter 8: Dust's Fall

**Dust: **Hello everyone! Welcome back to another-

**Travelling Master: *Cuts him off by shoving him away* **Nope!

**Dust: **Hey! Stop! And when did you get back?!

**Travelling Master: **Not important, but because of you I've been stuck trying to get back home for the last week! I think you filled in for me enough!

**DarkFoxKit:** Hey Travelling Master, haven't seen you all week, how've you been? Finally got settled in?

**Travelling Master: *Pauses as I recall being transported to a certain Mew, the **_**games**_ **she wanted to play, the struggle of getting back home. I then give a very strained smile.* **I've been...better. And yes, got all my stuff settled.

**Dust:** You look like you've seen the Distortion World.

**DarkFoxKit:** What did Mew do to you?

**Travelling Master: *Stares off in the distance, recalling my time with Mew.* **What happened with Mew stays with Mew.

**DarkFoxKit:** Awww, now you got me curious.

**Dust:** I would like to know more too. But you've stalled long enough, it's about time to get back to writing my story!

**Travelling Master: **Couldn't agree more! Let's get on with the story!

* * *

**Chapter 8: Dust's Fall**

It was already morning when Dust and Berry woke up. After Berry soaked herself in the pot of water, she got on Dust's back before Dust started to make his way to the cafeteria for breakfast. However, as Dust was walking, they started to pass by some Pokemon, who stopped and looked at them, or more specifically, at the Goomy on his back.

"Hmm?" Berry noticed their stares. "Uh… hi…?"

Some of them quickly looked away, while others just continued to stare at Berry. Finally one of them, an Electrike, walked up to Dust and Berry.

"So...is it true?" Electrike asked.

"Is… what true?" Berry questioned.

"That you blasted a Silver Rank through the wall?!" Electrike asked with a shout.

"W-wha-!?" Berry started to say but was interrupted by a Spheal that was next to the Electrike, clapping its feet together excitedly.

"Yeah, it's been going around the guild all night and all morning, how you blasted a Dragon type through the wall with some kind of blue fire attack, it sounded awesome, and we wanted to know if that was actually true," The Spheal said.

"The Dojo is closed due to reconstruction, so it must be true," A Jigglypuff pointed out.

"That's why the Dojo is closed?!" A Bidoof joined in with their own question.

"Yeah, because of a large hole in the wall caused by that big spar yesterday," A Buizel answered, coming in as well.

Soon, more and more Pokemon were rushing towards Dust and Berry, each asking their own question. Berry was starting to sweat and shiver. If it was just Dust saying that, it was one thing, but if the entire guild was talking about it, it wasn't something that could've just been made up by one Pokemon. From the sound of it, multiple Pokemon had seen this happen.

Dust noticed that Berry was leaking out more slime than usual as she was sweating from all the questions and sudden admiration. He tried to get away, but they were all surrounding him, leaving him hardly any space to move. Luckily a familiar Lucario came by, separating the crowd.

"Alright, alright! That's enough." Brody shouted to the crowd. "Give them space, they haven't even eaten yet and you're all surrounding them like a pack of wild Mankey."

"I resent that!" A Mankey shouted in the crowd.

The Pokemon around them all pouted, but they did disperse to give Dust some room to move, but they kept close enough to look at the now very nervous Goomy.

"I know a place where you two can at least eat in peace." Brody lead them towards the kitchen area, taking them behind the counter and heading towards a door on the far side of the kitchen. He opened it and beckoned them to enter.

As Dust entered the room, he saw rows and containers of all berries, different types of powder, and all sorts of ingredients used for cooking. He realized that Brody had lead them to the food storage, it was kinda like the berry storage from his old guild, but a lot smaller.

"Thanks," Dust said gratefully. "I guess I should've figured Berry's… attack yesterday would've spread like wildfire."

"You did… I just didn't believe you," Berry said before she hopped off of Dust's back. "Did… everything that happened at that spar with Blizza yesterday actually happen?"

Dust nodded. "Every word."

"Then… I have one question," Berry stated before taking a deep breath. "HOW!?"

Dust cringed a little at the shout, but shrugged at her question. "I don't entirely know. I've been trying to figure that out ever since yesterday. Honestly, I was hoping you would know."

"How the Distortion World would I know? I didn't even know I could do that!" Berry snapped, feeling both scared and angry at the situation.

Dust scratched the bottom of his chin, trying to think of an answer. "Maybe it's like some sort of a defensive instinct. Think of it like adrenaline. Sometimes our bodies can push out extra energy, usually in times of crisis or danger. Maybe you have something in you, a dormant power that can only be drawn out at certain times."

Berry looked at Dust with a deadpanned stare. Dust couldn't help but feel a little uncomfortable.

"This isn't a TV show…" Berry finally said.

"But you also can't deny what happened had some truth to it if everyone is talking about it," Dust pointed out.

"Well, I don't know what I'm supposed to think!" Berry threw up her antennae to show she was getting flustered. "I've always been the weakling in my family, so what am I supposed to think at hearing that I blasted a freaking powerful Dragon into a wall?"

"I think it means not only are you a beautiful maiden, but a strong, humble one too." Brody romantically said. Dust and Berry just realized that he has been standing there the whole time. "To think that you were holding back this whole time, so as not to cause others to amazed by your incredible aura."

Berry was even more flustered by the Lucario's comments. She was used to being called ugly in many different ways, so it was unusual to hear someone calling her beautiful. But it was the last thing he said that mostly caught her attention.

"What… holding back? I wasn't holding back!" Berry informed, looking at Brody.

Brody shook his head. "From what I heard, you're as powerful as the coming tides. And just as amazing to look at. You are just like-"

"Oh, that's enough, Brody! Can't you see the poor thing is having a crisis without you putting your two Pokes in?" A familiar Milcry spoke up, interrupting the lovestruck Lucario.

Brody turned to see Cupcake joining their group. "All the more reason to give her all my attention."

Cupcake gave a sigh. "Brody… I need your help with something, so come with me, and leave these two alone for a bit."

Brody looked between Berry and Cupcake, trying to decide who to stay with. After a few seconds he sighed, walking towards Cupcake. "Very well, I shall assist you. And Berry, don't worry, I shall return shortly."

With that said, Brody followed Cupcake somewhere in the back of the kitchen, leaving Dust and Berry alone.

Now alone, Berry looked back at Dust. "Please tell me there's another… um… Gooey…?"

"Goomy," Dust corrected.

"R-right… please tell me there's another Goomy in this guild that I don't know about and temporary took my place during that spar with Blizza," Berry begged.

Dust shook his head. "As far as I know, you're the only one in this guild."

"Argh! How did this even happen!?" Berry suddenly shouted, getting frustrated. "Now everyone's going to think I'm way stronger than I actually am! Distortion World, they already think that!"

"And what's wrong with that?" Dust tilted his head, confused by Berry's frustration. "Didn't you want to become stronger?"

Berry shook her head. "I wanted to become stronger, yes, but I actually wanted to be stronger, not have this… weird… outburst at random that I can't even control! Besides, Pokemon are going to be expecting me to start actually showing off my 'true strength' more, and then they'll start judging me more, thinking that I'm being a coward or whatever for not using my 'actual strength'. I can't fit into these expectations as I am now! And what if I lose it again? What if I seriously hurt you or something!? What if-"

"If I may offer a solution." Dust interrupted her, hoping to calm her down. "If you are worried that others might see that you are not as strong as you seem, or that you might lose control in the future, then how about learning to control it? Train and get stronger. That way you won't have to worry about what others think of you if you are as strong as they think you are."

"Is that even possible? From what you told me, even Vesper was speechless when I… apparently fired something at Blizza into the wall. Has there ever been any other Pokemon in recorded history to have something similar to what I apparently have?" Berry asked.

"Not that I heard off, but all things must have started at some point. Whether this is the first time anyone has witnessed your hidden potential, or that there might be others who share this ability with you, one way or another, we'll figure out a way for you to get stronger and better control this power of yours," Dust explained.

Berry didn't seem so sure about that, but she did appear to have calmed down. "I wonder if this might also be… related to my weird hatching…"

Dust wanted to argue that Berry wasn't a deformed Wooper, but then he stopped. In a way, Berry could be technically right, since it was possible that whoever her real parents were, this hidden potential of her's could be hereditary.

"Then it's settled," Dust clapped his claws together. "From this day on, we'll focus on learning what exactly this ability of yours is. With your permission, I'll be taking notes whenever an occurrence appears within your body."

Berry looked a little uncomfortable at that, but she gave a sigh. "If it'll help me figure out how or why I'm able to… do _that_, then sure, take notes to your heart's content. But in the meantime… I think I'll ride inside your bag in the guild for… the next several days."

"Um...okay. Why?" Dust asked.

"I'd rather not have a lot of Pokemon coming up and asking me questions about something I have no control over," Berry answered. "Besides, if I get too stressed out, I might accidentally hurt someone."

Dust nodded. "Very well. Now let's get started. I believe we have some crusading to do."

* * *

After getting some breakfast, and eating in the kitchen, Berry slithered into Dust's satchel, wanting to be as hidden as possible. Dust went to the main room where the mission board was. A few Pokemon who knew Dust was Berry's partner asked him where Berry was, but Dust just shrugged at them, and they left him be. After Dust chose a mission he believed he and Berry were capable of, he took it to get approved by the still very creepy Meowstic, Dust always got the shivers whenever he had to interact with Miyagi.

When Dust came out of the guild, and hopped onto the Carriage, which still had Twilight and Sunny pulling it, Berry would come out of the satchel. And during their mission in one of the smaller Mystery Dungeon, Dust asked Berry something.

"So… remember when I told you that you likely did a Dragon type move at Blizza?" Dust asked once they were in the Mystery Dungeon.

"What about it?" Berry asked, still not looking too happy to have the subject brought up again.

"I know I've said it multiple times before, but considering everything that has happened so far, do you think it's possible that you are a Dragon Type?" Dust asked, waiting to see her response.

Berry gave a sigh to that. "I'll admit that I might be… very unusual, and the whole outburst thing might be plausible because apparently everyone else saw it, but nobody else said I'm a Dragon type, most of them can't even tell what type I am. I still think I'm at least Water type though due to how much I need the water to live comfortably. But Dragon type… no, I just don't see it."

Dust let out a sigh, he had a feeling that she might have a hard time believing. But he was sure that she was a Dragon Pokemon and not some deformed Wooper she believed she is. Then an idea popped into his head.

"I was thinking, while we are in the dungeon, maybe it would be a perfect chance to practice using that move again." Dust suggested. "If you can use the attack again, it might help us better understand what you are exactly. Certain attacks tend to be a bit more powerful when used by a corresponding type user."

"Oh…" Berry hesitated, not sure how else to respond to that. "How… did I use the move?"

Dust was about to answer, then paused, not entirely sure how Berry used it in the first place. "Um...well, it looked like some sort of Flamethrower attack, but instead of the usual red flames, they were blue. Also, I noticed that the attack wasn't giving off a similar heat to that of Flamethrower."

"Uh… I don't know what move that could be." Berry frowned, looking confused.

"You blasted it from your mouth, so… try doing that?" Dust suggested.

"... Um… alright, I guess it can't hurt to try," Berry reluctantly said.

For the next hour, Berry had been trying to fire out whatever move she had used on Blizza, but either nothing came out or she accidentally used Water Gun instead. Berry would feel embarrassed whenever nothing came out, as it had her leaving her mouth wide open for no particular reason, she even tried it with a 'roar', though it was more of a high pitched squeal than a roar, which further embarrassed her.

After a while, Dust decided they could work on it later, and just get on with their mission, to which Berry agreed.

Over the next week, Dust and Berry had been going on mission after mission, sometimes taking even more than one mission whenever more than one request interlined with the same dungeon. Berry still hid in Dust's satchel, waiting for the rumors and stories about her to die down more before she dared to show her face in public. Dust would often have to carry breakfast into their room because Berry refused to eat in the cafeteria.

Although Berry would lock herself in their room once they come back from a mission, Dust himself kept busy. It was difficult for the first couple of days trying to make a working schedule for him, but after awhile, he managed to create one that suited with his and Berry's daily activities. After their mission and dropping off food for Berry in their room, Dust would first go to the Medical Bay, seeing if Dr. Perfume was available to give him any lessons related to the medical field. If he wasn't, Dust would head to the Research Lab, wanting to learn more about their equipment and studying any topic that came to mind. After spending a good while in the Research Lab, he would spend the remainder of his time in the Dojo, until it was late into the night. At first he didn't exactly know how to train, he never actually trained before in his life, luckily Vesper agreed to help with his training.

And so the days went on, Dust and Berry doing their missions, then doing their separate activities once they were done. Though later in the week, Dust noticed some strange things with his body. He'd find it harder to wake up, just to be exhausted despite the sleep he had. And throughout the day he noticed he got tired a lot quicker than usual. But he assumed it was because of the constant training at the Dojo and that his body was still adjusting to the new activities he was doing. Berry took notice of how tired Dust was getting lately, and asked him worriedly about it, but Dust assured her he was likely still adjusting to the training schedule.

After they had taken on several missions, Dust noticed they now had enough mission points to be able to rank up, but he wasn't sure how. He knew guilds would give mission points to guild members that they could use to cash in to rank up, but he didn't know how that worked since he never had mission points to begin with in the Olympus Guild.

Dust decided to end his training early. He noticed that it was barely sunset, so he hoped that he might be able to catch Chihiro and ask her about ranking up. As he left the Dojo, he thought about the past ten days since their sparring match with Team Crimson Raid. He still had that same feeling he felt deep inside after he lost against Crimson. But then, as he was making his way towards the Guild Master's office, he noticed something strange going on with his body.

Suddenly, he found that standing was starting to be a struggle, it took almost every ounce of his strength just to keep balance. His breathing was becoming harder, his vision started to blur, his insides felt like there were on fire. At first he thought he might have overworked his body, but these symptoms were much worse. He tried to take a step forward, hoping to reach Chihiro, but as soon as he lifted his right foreleg, his others legs gave out, causing him to fall on the ground. Dust couldn't even get up after that.

Thankfully for Dust, a familiar team was coming by. Talon was flying by with Tippi on his back, likely coming back from the Guild Master's room after completing a mission. Talon and Tippi gasped when they saw Dust lying on the floor, unmoving.

"What the? Dust!?" Talon quickly flew down to the Absol, landing in front of his face. "Dust? What happened? Are you alright?"

Dust didn't respond, all he could do was stare straight ahead, his mind dizzy, his mouth dry.

Talon frowned before Tippi crawled off of him. "Tippi, you stay here and watch him, I'm going to get the Guild Master."

The last thing Dust saw was Talon flying away and Tippi looking over him in concern, before everything turned to dark.

* * *

Berry was in her and Dust's room, reading a book from the bookshelf. She didn't usually read because books tend to not mix with water and her slime very well, but she was interested in books after she learned how to read footprint runes. She was careful to only touch the tip of the paper when turning the page with the tip of her antenna. She wished she could've trained with Dust in the Dojo, but she was still terrified to interact with anyone, and she still couldn't use that mysterious move that she apparently used on Blizza. She decided the next best thing was to try to gain more knowledge from books like Dust did.

Berry then stopped reading when she realized the time. _It's getting kind of late… when is Dust coming back from his training for the night?_

There was a knock on the door. Berry turned, slightly surprised by the sound, though glad to hear it. It was most likely Dust, perhaps he decided to visit the Research Lab and lost track of time.

Berry slithered to the door. "It's about time you came back. Did you lose track of time at the Research Lab?"

Berry asked this as she pulled open the door with her antennae, and stopped when she saw it wasn't Dust, but Carrie. The Goomy blinked, surprised to see the Kangaskhan here.

"Mrs. Carrie?" Berry said in a questioning tone.

Carrie was frowning as she looked at Berry. "I need you to come with me. Something has happened to Dust."

Berry's eyes widened in worry as shock and concern entered her being. She tried to shake it off. "Did he get into trouble…?"

Carrie only shook her head. "He's not in trouble, but he isn't doing well either. He's in the Medical Bay, Team Silkwing found him collapsed in the hallways near Chihiro's office."

It took Berry a moment to remember Team Silkwing were Talon and Tippi, but that thought was shortly replaced with more shock and worry for her partner.

"W-what? What happened to him!?" Berry worriedly asked.

Carrie picked up Berry and put her in her pouch, next to Chloe. "We're not sure yet, Dr. Perfume is still analyzing him. But let's get to the Medical Bay so we can hear if Dr. Perfume found anything out."

"It'll be okay, Dr. Perfume will make your friend better," Chloe said to Berry, hoping to reassure her.

Berry couldn't stop worrying despite the baby Kangaskhan's assurance, but she did give Chloe a nod, appreciating for what Chloe was trying to do.

Carrie made a beeline for the Medical Bay, she was very fast when she wanted to be. Most Pokemon were either in their rooms, or outside the hallway. Those who were in the hallway quickly moved to the side, seeing the rushing Kangaskhan in the distance. Each step shook the ground as she got closer and closer to the Medical Bay.

As she got closer, the sound of commotion was heard from the room. There were Chansey and Audino rushing about, either bringing in new supplies or replacing old ones. One of them noticed Carrie enter the room with Berry in her pouch.

"Is she the Absol's partner?" A Chansey asked.

Carrie nodded. "Yes, she is."

"Right this way." Chansey lead Carrie to a seperate room.

When Chansey opened the door, she let Carrie on through. In the room was Dr. Perfume and Chihiro, each next to a bed. On top of that bed was Dust, whose fur was damp from his sweat, his breath short and shallow, his eyes closed.

As soon as they were in the room, Berry jumped out of Carrie's pouch and slithered quickly towards the bed Dust was lying in.

"Dust…" Berry frowned in concerned, stopping herself short from climbing onto his bed, not wanting to get her slime on it.

For once, Berry didn't care that Dr. Perfume or Chihiro were looking at her, she turned to face both of them. "What happened to my partner?"

"We are still trying to figure that out." Dr. Perfume explained. "I took some samples from his body to see the cause. It seems that he is suffering from some sort of fever, his temperature is only rising. I also noticed some traces of Poison in his sweat, but despite giving him Pecha Berries, it's hardly doing anything to change his symptoms. It's as though he's been hit by a Toxic attack that not even Pecha Berries could cure."

"We were hoping you might know what had happened to him, Berry," Chihiro added. "Did anything happen during your mission with Dust? Any encounters with Poison Pokemon?"

Berry frowned, thinking back to all the wild Pokemon they had encountered in their latest mission. "We've probably came across a Weedle or two, but we took them out before they could use Poison Sting on us. I don't think there was any Pokemon that could've used a Poison type attack on either of us during our mission, and even if they did, we've had plenty of Pecha Berries to keep us from getting affected by Poison for long…"

Dr. Perfume gave a thoughtful look. "It isn't the run of the mill Poison status anyways, since if it was, the Pecha Berry medicine should've cured him by now. I believe this is a different kind of Poison, a subtle kind that affects the body slowly, and once it spreads, not even Pecha Berries would be able to stop it, only slow it down."

A thought then occurred to Carrie. "What about the Pecha Scarf? Would that help cure Dust of his symptoms?"

Dr. Perfume shook his head. "They are only good for preventing one from being poisoned. They might even help stall or slow down the process too. But for the young Absol, I'm afraid it won't do any good."

"At least have him wear it, it'll slow down the process if nothing else," Carrie suggested.

"Good point," Dr. Perfume said.

"I have his bag," Chihiro remarked, picking up the blue bag from a counter, opening it up before digging out the pink scarf.

Berry had forgotten about the scarves she and Dust had. It must have slipped their mind after their sparring match with Team Crimson Raiders. As Chihiro pulled out the Pecha Scarf, some slime landed on her arms, but she was more focused on giving Dr. Perfume the scarf.

"We need to find what caused this Poison," Dr. Perfume explained as he tied the pink scarf around Dust's neck. "If we can find the source, we might be able to make a form of antidote to counter the toxins in his body."

Chihiro turned back to Berry. "Berry… do you know if Dust had been holding or wearing anything that might've had some toxins in them? Anything at all? His bag, or something in his bag? … I did notice some slime in his bag."

Berry frowned. "I was… in his bag a few times… but um… well…"

The Goomy paled when she realized something. "Oh… oh no… it might've been me. I've been riding on him since we became an official team. He also ate some apples and berries that had some of my slime on it!"

"But what does your slime have to do with Dust?" Dr. Perfume asked. "If anything, it should only have given him an upset stomach from eating berries touched by your slime."

Berry had to mentally question how well this doctor knew about Pokemon if he didn't understand what was going on already. "Don't you get it? My slime is toxic! Wooper and Quagsire are known to have toxic in their slime! I… I was raised by them, so even if my slime wasn't supposed to have any toxic, they likely might have due to being raised by them! Please, at least take a sample or something, I know it's got to be because of me, Dust didn't have anything else that would be poisonous on him."

"Chihiro, how long have these two been on a team?" Dr. Perfume asked, a bit more worried than before.

The Dragapault had to think for a moment, before she answered, "I believe for about 2 weeks or so."

Dr. Perfume grabbed for an empty vile, then went towards Berry. "I'm going to have to take you up on your offer. I'll need a sample of your slime."

Berry nodded, and stayed perfectly still as Dr. Perfume slide the vile's opening across her body, getting a sample of her goo. He then called one of the Chansey over, telling them to watch over Dust as he went to analyze the slime himself.

While they were waiting, Berry didn't like seeing Dust like this, he was always so lively and eager whenever she saw him. The fact that he was lying so still, covered in sweat, made her feel awful and guilty, especially if she was right in her suspicions of her slime being the reason why he was like this. Carrie had to leave after a while, needing to put Chloe to bed for the night. Berry noticed that Chihiro had Phantom and Spooks in the holes of her horn, but they had been asleep, so Berry didn't see them at first.

It didn't take long for Dr. Perfume to return. As he entered the room, both Chihiro and Berry looked up, eager to hear his news.

"So after analyzing your slime, I was able to pick up some traces of toxins. Now that we know what we are dealing with, we can start working on a counter agent for the toxins within Dust's body," Dr. Perfume explained.

"And how long will that take?" Chihiro asked.

Dr. Perfume looked down. "I...I don't know. It could take a few hours...or it might take a few days. The toxins had already spread in the Absol's body, and have already affected his tissues. Making an antidote to counter that without the right potent medicine will take a while."

Berry thought back on when her parents would bring a certain flower to cure one of her sibling's friend after they had been accidentally poisoned by their slime. Eating the petals of that flower cured their friend pretty quickly. The Goomy had to think for a moment to remember what that flower was.

"What… what about using a Chrysalis Flower?" Berry asked.

Both Dr. Perfume and Chihiro turned towards Berry, with the Aromatisse thinking hard about her suggestion. "I've heard of this flower. They are said to contain rich nutrients in them, but that they are very hard to come by, making them somewhat rare...If we had one, it might help with Dust's condition."

"But the problem is, none of us know where the Chrysalis Flower grows, and even then we don't know when they'll bloom. They are called the Chrysalis Flower because of their cocoon-like buds that stay that way for long periods of time," Chihiro pointed out.

"I know where some Chrysalis Flowers grow, and I also think this is their season to bloom," Berry spoke up. "My old home in the Spring Swamp had some Chrysalis Flowers growing there. My parents would bring some to their friends if they accidentally got poisoned from their toxic slime."

Chihiro thought about it, but then she shook her head. "I know of Spring Swamp, and the journey there would be too long. The quickest way to get there would be going through the Waterfall Cavern, which is a Mystery Dungeon. But the wild Pokemon inhabiting that dungeon are fierce, nothing like the ones you and Dust have faced so far. If I had to rank it, it would be a Rank C or B Mystery Dungeon. I can't send any of our current team members there as most of them are Normal or Bronze rank, all our higher rank members are out on long term missions. Not to mention, there had been reports of a strong Dragon type appearing at random floors in the dungeon, wiping out many Crusaders that came across it."

"Dust doesn't have much time anyways, so I better get started on that antidote," Dr. Perfume said grimly.

"Doesn't have much time until… what exactly?" Berry asked worriedly.

"You don't need to worry about that now," Chihiro started leading Berry away. "For now, we must let Dr. Perfume focus on his work. He'll make a cure for your friend and Dust will be better in no time. For now, it's late. Rest now, tomorrow you can check on your friend."

Although Berry appreciated the comfort the Guild Master tired to give her, Berry wasn't naive or stupid, she could hear the unsureness in Chihiro's tone, and the implications of what Dr. Perfume meant by saying that Dust didn't have much time.

_And it's my fault._

That thought hit Berry more than she expected. She knew she had to do something if she wanted to save her partner, even if it meant breaking a few rules.

* * *

Later, that night, Berry didn't sleep. The room was quiet and empty without Dust. She thought about her time with Dust since they became Team Night Tide, and even though they had started out rough, she wouldn't trade Dust for another partner. Dust had been the first friend to be so kind to her, and willing to work with her. Even if he had the annoying tendency to go off on rants, and try to tell her she was a Dragon type, she knew those were just his quirks, and she would rather hear his rants all night than have him be silent, lying on a hospital bed, potentially dying.

The more Berry thought about it, the more determined she became to go through the Waterfall Cavern herself just to get the Chrysalis Flower. _Maybe the wild Pokemon there are strong, and the Dragon type would easily wipe me out, but I have to at least try. I am a Crusader, and Dust is counting on me, I'm his partner after all, it's my responsibility to cure him, especially since it's my fault he got Poisoned in the first place._

Making her decision, Berry slithered to the pot of water before jumping in, getting herself wet, knowing she would need it for her long trip to Spring Swamp. She also couldn't waste any time, every second counted. Now that she was soaked, she hopped out of the pot, and slithered to the door. She opened the door with her antennae, and began to slither out into the hallway quietly.

"Going somewhere?" A voice whispered to her.

The sudden voice caused Berry to jump and spin around, seeing a tall shadowy figure standing in front of her.

Seeing Berry's shocked expression, the figure quickly steps out of the shadow, arms up, hoping to calm her down. Now the figure was out of the shadows, Berry saw that it was Brody who had snuck up on her.

"Sorry, didn't mean to scare you," Brody apologized.

"What are you doing here?" Berry whispered.

"I can ask you the same question." Brody answered back. "Thinking about going to a certain dungeon you're not supposed too?"

Berry frowned. "How… did you know…?"

"Our Guild Master told me you might try to sneak out on your own. Which is why she asked me to keep an eye on you. Guess she was right," Brody replied.

"Well… I know… I know I shouldn't go to the Waterfall Cavern, but I can't just sit around and wait. Dust is my only partner, he's also my best friend. It's my fault he's dying in a hospital bed right now. Brody, I don't know if you have anyone close or special to you, but if you do, imagine them being the one in the hospital right now, lying there, dying, because of you. Wouldn't you want to do something about it?" Berry questioned.

Brody only smiled at Berry. "Of course I would. If something happened to me, I know my teammates would do everything they could to help me. And I would do the same...Which is why I'm going to help you sneak out of here."

Berry gave a surprised look at the Lucario. "R-really? You'll help me?"

Brody nodded. "Of course I would. How could I ever deny the help of a fair maiden? Plus, I wasn't the only one Chihiro asked to keep an eye on you. Even if I wasn't here, Miyagi would be more difficult to convince."

Berry shivered at the thought of running into Miyagi at night. "Not that I don't appreciate it, but why are you helping me?"

"You said it yourself. You care deeply about your teammate, about your friend. Any chance that we can give Dust we should take. Now hop in, I'll be able to get you outside the guild." Brody held open a side bag for Berry.

"Thank you, I appreciate this, really," Berry said, some tears falling from her eyes. "But before you take me out of the guild, could I request you take me to Dust's hospital room? There's something over there I need to get before I go on this journey."

Brody gave her a thumbs up. "Anything for you."

Berry hopped into Brody's bag, and the Lucario quickly yet quickly made his way to the Medical Bay. The Chansey at the counter was doing some paperwork, and because it wasn't an Audino, it made it easier for Brody to sneak by the counter in order to go into the hospital rooms where the patients were sleeping. Brody soon came to the door that would lead into Dust's room.

He waited a bit in hiding, seeing some light coming from within the room. After a few seconds, Dr. Perfume and a Chansey opened the door, most likely to get more supplies for Dust. As soon as they were out of sight, Brody quickly went to the door, managing to prevent it from closing all the way. Opening it, the two entered with no one noticing that they were there.

Brody held open his bag for Berry to get out of. "Okay, we have a few minutes before they return."

"Okay," Berry replied before jumping out of Brody's bag.

Berry hurried over to the counter where Dust's bag was being kept. She looked over at the bed for a moment, where Dust was still lying unconscious.

"Wow, he isn't doing too good." Brody frowned while raising his paw near Dust's body. Blue aura emanated from the Lucario's paw as he had his eyes closed.

Berry hurried up on the counter, having to climb it. She realized that her slime will be left there, and she would be suspected, but she hoped she would be long gone by the time her slime was discovered. She used her antennae to open Dust's bag and pull out a red scarf. She remembered that Carrie told her it was a Defense Scarf, and she knew she was going to need all the help she could get. She picked up the bag with her head before she hopped down onto the floor.

"Can you help strap this bag onto me?" Berry requested Brody. "And help tie the scarf? I don't have any hands or fingers to do it myself."

Brody turned his attention to Berry, happy to help her. After tying the scarf and securing the bag to her body, Brody took a step back to fully admire her. The scarf was around her neck and bottom half of her body, the strap of the bag was under the scarf itself, while the bag itself was behind her, much like a backpack. "You look stunning."

Berry blushed a little at the compliment. "Um… thank you. Now let's hurry and get out of here."

Berry quickly jumped into Brody's bag. He made sure that she was secured before going to the door. He slowly opened the door, checking to see if the coast was clear. Seeing no one nearby, he quickly makes his way through the Medical Bay, leaving the area with no one noticing. He quickly but quietly made his way through the guild's hallways. When he got close to the exit, he stopped and looked around the corner. He didn't see anyone, and decided it was now or never.

He stepped away from the corner, going towards the exit. He heard a sound that caught his attention, causing him to turn around. Seeing no one there, he sighed and turned around, only to come face to face with a floating Meowstic, using Psychic on himself to levitate.

Brody almost screamed but managed to keep it in. "Oh, Miyagi, didn't see you there."

Instead of the usual creepy stare that the Meowstic normally had, he was giving Brody a hard glare. "..."

"What am I doing?" Brody asked, knowing what Miyagi was asking. "Well I'm going out to get some food. If I'm going to be keeping an eye on the Goomy, I'm going to need some snacks to help me stay awake through the night."

"..." Miyagi didn't change his expression, nor did he move.

When Miyagi didn't budge, Brody thought of another idea."...You're still not mad that I accidentally mistook you for a female, are you?"

Miyagi actually looked angrier from that comment. He continued to stare at Brody, who gave an embarrassed smile until finally the Meowstic rolled his eyes. He floated back to his desk, not really wanting to deal with Brody any more.

"Get out," Miyagi finally said.

"Thanks Miyagi," Brody quickly said before heading out the guild.

The moon was high with a slight breeze in the air. After gaining some distance from the guild, Brody started heading towards town where he knew where the Carriages would be. After reaching them, he spoke with one of the Pokemon next to a carriage. After some convincing, the Pokemon agreed, telling Brody to wait a minute as they went to get a Pokemon to pull the Carriage.

After a while of waiting, a Blitzle came strolling in, pulling a small, one mon carriage.

"I really wish you Crusaders would stop taking missions after dark, some of us actually want to sleep," the Blitzle grumbled, revealing to have a female voice.

"I am terribly sorry for disturbing your beauty sleep." Brody apologetically said. "It was cruel of me to take you away from your slumber. But unless it was of most importance, I would have left you be."

The Blitzle softened up from Brody's answer and sighed. "Just get on, or put whoever is leaving on."

Brody opened his bag near the Carriage, close enough for Berry to hop out of.

"Thank you for this, Brody," Berry said gratefully. "I hope you don't get into too much trouble from the Guild Master for this."

"I've gotten in worse trouble than this. Though those were more physically related and I ended up staying in the Medical Bay for a week." Brody chuckled a bit before giving a friendly smile. "Be careful out there. I know you care about your friend, but it won't do him any good if you are unable to return."

"I intend to return, with the cure," Berry promised.

Berry turned to the Blitzle, and made her destination request. "I'm going to Spring Swamp, but take me to the Waterfall Cavern leading there, please." _If I try to take the Carriage all the way to Spring Swamp, it would take a couple more days, and that's too long._

The Blitzle gave Berry a skeptical look, but just shrugged it off. "Alright, if you say so."

"Good luck!" Brody shouted as the Blitzle pulled the Carriage away, leaving the Lucario behind.

Berry looked up at the night sky as the Blitzle pulled the Carriage out of town. _Please hold on, Dust, I'll bring you back the Chrysalis Flower, and then we can go on missions again together._

* * *

**Reviews**

**Greatest Guy****: DarkFoxKit:** I've always been a fan of the Ugly Duckling storyline, and since Berry grew up with this crap, it makes more sense for her to have the Ugly Duckling treatment.

As for Berry's egg being in the nest of Quagsire, well there is an explanation for that, but not one we'll reveal until later. Her Quagsire mother isn't her real mother, and neither is her Quagsire father, I'll tell you that now.

**Travelling Master: **Couldn't agree more. Crimson may still be confused and unsatisfied with the answers, but at least he has some ideas on what is means to be strong, in his own way.

**InfernalzRush****: DarkFoxKit:** Co-Author is missing, Author stress went up!

Co-Author made it back.

Author's happiness went up.

Author used Update.

Reader's excitement went up!

Co-Author still upset over Dust.

Co-Author Kicked Dust out!

It's super effective, but Dust will return!

**Travelling master: **Thanks, moving can always be a hassle, and at this point, Mars would've been better than going through what Mew put me through. Dust has always been the creative and resourceful type, so him working with Mew is very much a possibility. But whether in this dimension or another, who's to say?

**DarkFoxKit:** Yeah, Crimson may be rough, but he does still have a heart somewhere. He and Blizza do care for each other. And Berry has an interesting story behind her other than just her childhood, but that's something to be seen later.

**Dust:** Huh… that's it for the reviews?

**DarkFoxKit:** Yeah, sometimes we'll have a slow week like this.

**Travelling Master: **It can be like that sometimes. All we can do is keep writing, whether we get reviews or not.


	9. Chapter 9: Berry's Mission

**Travelling Master: *Stretches and yawns at the same time.* **...Hello…***yawns again*...**everyone. Welcome back to another chapter.

**DarkFoxKit:** What the heck? Why have you been sleeping so late?

**Travelling Master: **Was not intentional...I just slept really good, and didn't want to get up.

**DarkFoxKit: **On our update day of all days?

**Travelling Master: **Yeah...sorry about that.

**Dust:** Hey! What is taking so long? I've been waiting, Berry's been waiting, the readers have been waiting!

**DarkFoxKit:** Sorry for the wait. My sleepyhead co-writer here just woke up.

**Travelling Master: *Yawns once more* **Morning Dust.

**Dust: **Morning? It's in the afternoon!

**DarkFoxKit:** What were you doing last night that made you sleep in?

**Travelling Master: *Recalls last night on how I got caught up on a new game and lost track of time* **...Had trouble sleeping. Anyways, I'm here and awake, even though I'm late, I'm here. Lets get on with the story.

**DarkFoxKit:** Uh-huh… I'm going to go give Mew a call while everyone starts reading.

**Travelling Master: *Yawn again, not really hearing what Kit said.* **Yeah, you go do that. I'm gonna find something to eat to wake me up more.

**Dust:** Oh, you're going to wake up soon alright.

* * *

**Chapter 9: Berry's Mission**

When Dust opened his eyes, he was unsure of where he was, everything was dark around him. He assumed that maybe it was night time so he waited for his eyes to adjust. After a few seconds he noticed that it was still dark, but not the natural darkness that came from the night. He got up, seeing that he was in some sort of big empty black space. He tried recalling his recent events, but the last thing he could remember was making his way towards Chihiro's office.

"Hello?" Dust called out, his voice echoing in the mysterious space. He waited for a reply but none came.

He decided that he might as well explore and hopefully come across someone or something. So he picked a direction and started walking towards it. After a few minutes he found that nothing changed, no matter how far he went, he was still in this big black space.

"Where am I?" Dust asked no one in particular.

"Dust…" Dust perked up at hearing a voice besides his own.

"Hello? Who's there?" Dust shouted, looking around to find the source of the voice.

"Dust… Absol…" The voice sounded closer, and familiar.

A figure started to make their way towards Dust. He squinted his eyes to try to get a better look. They appeared to be an Absol as well.

"Dust Absol… I can't…" The voice began as they got closer.

"What was that?" Dust started moving towards the Absol.

"I can't… believe… that you ended up here again!" The shadows around the Absol dissipated, revealing her to be his mother, Eclipse.

"Mother?! Why are you here?" Dust was shocked to see his mother here of all places.

"Instead of asking why I'm here, you should be wondering why you are here." Eclipse explained.

"...So why am I here?" Then Dust recalled what his mother said earlier. "And what do you mean by again?"

"Do you honestly not recognize this place? You were here just last year, after that big explosion one of your more deadly experiments caused," Eclipse stated. "Think back carefully, where have you seen this place before?"

Dust looked around more, trying to remember this place. He did admit, something was familiar, but he couldn't place his claws on it. He then recalled all the previous experiments he has done within the last year, and while there were many, none of them really stood out. But then he remembered one in particular. He tried to utilize the magnetic properties of Magnemite and Magneton, hoping to create a magnetic field generator. And while the experiment worked for a few seconds, it resulted in a rather huge explosion.

"That's right, I remember that experiment. I was told I was in a coma for almost a week." Dust shared.

"Yes, and now…" Eclipse began before she used her front paw to gesture the dark space around them. "You're back, in a coma, and trapped within your mind, or perhaps, you're stuck within your soul."

Dust looked around with fascination and wonder. "Interesting. It's starting to come back to me now, but I thought it was all a dream."

"In a way, it is a dream, but it's also real at the same time," Eclipse explained. "If you remember right, when a being comes close to death, they will appear in their soul, and be greeted by the reaper of souls to take them into the afterlife."

Dust took a step back at that comment, finding it a bit ironic that his mother would be telling him about the afterlife. "The afterlife? Surely you jest?"

Eclipse shook her head. "This is no joke. Just like last time, you are on death's doorstep."

A chill went down Dust's spine. He didn't know what to say or do. All he could do is just stare at his mother, thinking about her ominous words.

"How…? I didn't experiment anything this time," Dust finally asked.

"You had a subtle poison in your system for the last two weeks," Eclipse explained. "If it was just a little, it wouldn't have been fatal, but because you absorb so much of it over the two weeks, you're now in danger of dying. The doctor is doing whatever he can to slow the process down while trying to develop a cure. However… you only have about 3 days until you… end up in the afterlife."

Dust looked down, he could hardly believe what he heard. "...3 days…" He then looked up at his mother, having all sorts of mixed feelings within. "What...do I do until...well you know."

"Come with me," Eclipse said, beckoning for Dust to follow.

Dust was confused and scared, but he was also curious what his mother wanted to show him, so he followed close behind.

* * *

At some point while riding on the Carriage, Berry had fallen asleep. She only woke up when she felt the Carriage stop, and heard the Blitzle's voice.

"Okay, we're here, at the entrance of Waterfall Cavern," Blitzle announced.

Berry groggily blinked open her eyes, and yawned. She noticed the morning sun was starting to rise into the sky, giving it a soft light. She stretched up her body, before remembering why she was here. She knew she didn't have much time, and that was why she came to Waterfall Cavern in the first place.

_It would've taken two more days to get to Spring Swamp by Carriage, and that would take too much time. If I can get through Waterfall Cavern, however, it'll only take me a few hours, depending on how long it'll take me to get through the Mystery Dungeon._ Berry noted to herself before she slithered down from the Carriage.

The Blitzle gave a worried look at the little Goomy. "Are you… sure you can handle the Waterfall Cavern by yourself?"

"I'll be fine," Berry assured, though she wasn't all that confident herself.

"Normally I'd be okay with letting a Crusader go into a Mystery Dungeon, but this one had been getting more dangerous lately after a strong Dragon type started roaming around," Blitzle warned.

"I know… I'll be careful," Berry said before she began slithering into the entrance of Waterfall Cavern, knowing she couldn't waste anymore time.

* * *

**Waterfall Cavern 1F**

The inside of the dungeon was dark, though thanks to the sunlight, Berry was able to see the interior of the cavern. Despite being the only one there, she couldn't help but get the unsettling feeling that she was being watched. She was just glad that there was enough water paths for her to travel through. The sooner she got through this dungeon, the sooner she could find the flower and cure Dust.

The further Berry went through the dungeon, however, she saw some wild Pokemon. They were mostly Water types, like Shellos, though these ones were blue and green as opposed to the pink and white one she and Dust met a while back, and Buizel, Staryu, Krabby, Seel, some Clamperl sitting still in the water, and so on. Berry was careful to avoid these wild Pokemon. They didn't seem to notice her as they went on about their business.

* * *

**Waterfall Cavern 4F**

By the time Berry got to the 4th floor of Waterfall Cavern, it had gotten darker and cooler. There was no more sunlight lighting up the cavern, instead, there was light coming from the glow of crystals in the walls and ceilings of the cavern, and a few flowers that were glowing in the dark. Even so, the limited light didn't bother Berry too much, her antennae easily sensed her surroundings, so she knew where to go and how to avoid wild Pokemon when she needed to.

Though she was getting worried, she could sense stronger wild Pokemon the further she went in. There wasn't just Water types anymore, there were other cave dwellers in the cavern as well. She sensed Seviper, Ekans, Paras, Burmy, Wormadam, a few Beldum, and surprisingly some Ground and Rock types like Sandshrew and Geodude. There were more Pokemon that Berry never heard or seen before, but she could tell they were giving off some strong presence.

Berry's eyes lit up, however, when she saw what appeared to be almost a lake within the cavern. There were small waterfalls coming down the rocky areas. The water itself almost looked like it was glowing, though Berry could see it was due to the crystals under the water that gave it the glow.

_Now I know why it's called the Waterfall Cavern._ Berry noted to herself in awe.

Berry soon found the stairs, glad to have made it without having to fight with another Pokemon. She slithered up the stairs.

* * *

**Waterfall Cavern 5F**

When Berry was on the next floor, her antennae shook as she sensed a sudden powerful presence. _Whoa… what is that I'm sensing? Whatever it is, I better steer clear of it. It might be that Dragon type everyone was warning me about..._

As Berry was slithering, she headed towards the water once more, feeling like it was the best place to travel and hide from potential hostile wild Pokemon. However, when Berry got close, she sensed a strong Pokemon in the water. She stopped, and frowned. She started to slither away, when suddenly, a large, snake Pokemon jumped out of the water with a hungry smile at Berry. Berry recognized it as a Seviper, and she squealed, knowing this Seviper was much stronger than she was, and she was now caught within its sights as its prey.

Berry quickly began hopping, trying to get away as fast as she could, unfortunately, the Seviper was faster, and long, it quickly blocked her path with its body, before the large blade on its tail began to glow purple, indicating it was about to use a Poison Tail attack. Quickly turning around to the Seviper's face, Berry shot out a Water Gun into its open mouth.

Seviper was caught off guard by the sudden Water Gun attack, causing the Poison Tail attack to barely miss Berry. Now coughing out water, it was momentarily distracted.

Berry wasted no time to hop over the Seviper's body and hurried away, trying to find a hiding spot. Unfortunately for the Goomy, the Seviper recovered quickly, and slithered after her. Berry yelped as it used Poison Tail and tried to slam it into her, but Berry jumped, which made the Poison Tail barely miss her, and it slammed onto the ground instead, leaving quite an impact, which scared Berry even more. The Seviper let out a horrid sounding Screech from its mouth, making it hard for Berry to concentrate on moving.

The Seviper opened its mouth and managed to use Bite on Berry's body, but because Berry was so slippery, she slipped out of the Seviper's jaws before it could do too much damage, but she was still hurt from the attack. She hit the ground. The Seviper wasn't done with her yet, it turned to her, its dagger tail turning purple once more. Berry briefly wondered what Dust would do in this situation. _Probably something crazy and stupid…_

An idea coming to mind, she looked down, facing the ground. Just as the Seviper was about to slam its Poison Tail into her, Berry shot out the strongest Water Gun she could manage, which hit the floor, and propelled her over the Seviper. The Seviper looked up in shock, seeing Berry somewhat fly through the air and away from it.

Berry didn't stop propelling herself with Water Gun until she was far enough away to find a hiding spot. She finally had to stop using Water Gun as she was getting tired, and landed near a giant glowing blue crystal. She wasn't sure if it was the best hiding spot, but it was all she had at the moment, she quickly slithered to get behind the crystal, when she bumped into another Pokemon, causing her to scream.

The Pokemon, at being bumped into, screamed in return. "Please don't eat me!"

When Berry heard the Pokemon talking, a few things came to mind. It wasn't wild, it was scared, the voice sounded familiar, and was this Pokemon lost?

"W-wah?" Berry then noticed the Pokemon was a Wooper, and not just any Wooper, but it was… "Splash? Is that you?"

At hearing his name, Splash stopped screaming, realizing who it was. "...Berry?" But as he realized that it was Berry that bumped into him, he jumped back, even more terrified. "BERRY?!"

Berry's body shook at the loud scream. "Shhhhh! That Seviper and other wild Pokemon will hear you!"

He quieted down but kept his distance. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm on a mission to save someone," Berry answered before giving a proud smile. "I'm a Crusader now, just like I always said I would be."

"You're...a Crusader?" Splash couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"Uh-huh," Berry said before she used her antenna to take something off that was under her scarf, and showed Splash her badge. "See? This is proof. I mean I'm only at Normal Rank, but I am still a Crusader."

Splash slowly nodded, but was still uncomfortable. "So this someone you're saving, are they lost in this dungeon?"

Berry put the badge back under her scarf before frowning. "No, they're… really sick, from my slime. I'm here to try to get to Spring Swamp to get the Chrysalis Flower to help cure them before it's too late… Wait, why are _you_ here?"

"Me?...Well, I'm just...exploring this dungeon. I just wasn't expecting there to be such strong Pokemon on this floor," Splash explained.

"Are you… lost in here?" Berry asked in concern. "Normal civilized Pokemon are usually advised against coming into a Mystery Dungeon since they don't have the means to warp themselves out if they get stuck."

"I'm n-not lost!" Splash defended. "Besides, I made it this far, I can find my way out on my own."

Before Berry could reply to that, she gasped when she felt that Seviper closing in on them. "We have to move, now!"

"What? Why?" Splash asked, unable to sense the Seviper.

Berry didn't have time to answer, the Seviper came around the crystal, its maw wide open for a Bite attack at the nearest Pokemon. Splash's eyes widened as he gasped at the sudden appearance of the Seviper. Without thinking, Berry shot out a Water Gun at the Seviper's mouth once more, shutting it.

"Come on!" Berry urgently said to Splash.

Since Splash couldn't go the other way due to the Seviper, he had to follow after Berry. The two started to run away from Seviper, who quickly recovered. Now more furious, the Seviper slithered after Berry and Splash, covering the gap between them little by little.

Unfortunately for the two young Pokemon, they ran into a deadend, and the Seviper was right behind them.

"Splash… it looks like we'll have to fight our way out," Berry said grimly.

"F-fight?! H-how do you expect us to f-fight against that Seviper?!" Splash shouted.

"It's either fight or let yourself become its meal!" Berry snapped, making Splash flinch back. "I don't intend to die here today, not when my friend is counting on me."

Splash gulped while Berry prepared herself against the Seviper. Seeing that it's prey were no longer running, the Seviper prepared another Poison Tail attack, before swinging its tail toward Splash.

Berry jumped at the Seviper's head, using Tackle on its lower jaw, causing it to miss its Poison Tail that slammed into the wall just above Splash's head. Berry landed beside Splash, turning her back to him. "Look into the bag, and take out some Gravelerocks, I picked up a few along the way here. Use your tail or Water Gun to throw the rocks at the Seviper!"

Too scared to argue, Splash nodded as he went to Berry's bag, grabbing some Gravelerocks with his mouth. Facing the Seviper, he used Water Gun to shoot the Gravelerocks at the Seviper. Some of the rocks managed to hit different parts of the Seviper.

The Seviper was hissing angrily from the rocks.

"Do you have any Ground type moves?" Berry asked Splash. "If I remember the type chart correctly, Poison types like that Seviper are weak to Ground types."

"I k-know Mud Shot," Splash answered.

"Great, then use it!" Berry instructed.

The Seviper, however, wasted no time in using its next move. It let out another Screech that caused Berry and Splash to break their concentration, and while they were recovering from the loud Screech, it swiped its Poison Tail at both of them, knocking them into each other and into a wall.

Splash realized he was on Berry's slimey body and immediately rolled off, breathing heavily from fear. Berry groaned as she managed to upright herself. "Ugh… this… isn't… looking good… for us…"

"Then what are you waiting for?!" Splash shouted to Berry. "Blast that Seviper away! You've done it before, do it again!"

At this, Berry gave a surprised and confused look at Splash. "What?" _How did he know about… that…?_

Before Berry could ask anymore, the Sevpier came in for another Bite attack, and managed to grab the Wooper with its fangs. Splash let out a scream of pain. Berry gasped, she opened her mouth to try to use her strongest Water Gun attack in hopes of making the Seviper let go, but instead of water, she was surprised to see an orb of purple and blue light appeared in front of her mouth instead. She unleashed the orb, which turned into a mix of purple and blue flames that hit the Seviper pretty hard, hard enough to make it let go of Splash.

Splash fell on the ground, letting out a groan. Berry went to help him up, but at seeing her coming, he quickly got up and stepped back from her. "W-what was that?!"

Berry frowned a little, seeing Splash's fear of her. That move she used, she somehow instinctively knew what it was now that she actually saw it. "I… think that was… Dragon Breath."

Splash mumbled to himself, "First Absorb, now a Dragon type move? What are you?"

"How did you know I could use Absorb? I never showed anyone in my family I could use-" Berry stopped when she began to realize something. "Wait… did… did I use Absorb on you…?"

Splash was afraid, too scared to answer her question. Unfortunately, they were too distracted to notice that the Seviper was only a few feet away from them, readying another Bite attack. It lunged forward, bearing its fangs towards Berry and Splash. They realized too late of the oncoming attack and the duo closed their eyes, preparing for the worst.

Suddenly a lavender tentacle-looking thing came out of the darkness of the narrow passageway they were in, and grabbed onto the Seviper without warning. Berry was the first to notice this as she peeked open her eyes when she heard the Seviper suddenly letting out a shocked cry. Splash opened his eyes as well when he heard it. They both looked surprised and confused, before the tentacle-looking thing started to drag the now struggling Seviper into the darkness. Both Berry and Splash couldn't help but shiver in fear as they could only hear the Seviper screaming even more, and they heard something else. Then the Seviper's screaming became muffled, like it was stuffed under or in something.

Berry and Splash nervously looked at each other, worried about what horror dragged that Seviper, and what it was doing to it.

"I… I guess… I should… g-go check it out… s-since I am t-the Crusader here…" Berry gulped nervously.

"B-by all m-means...go ahead," Splash agreed.

Berry slowly started to slither towards the darkness, her antennae stiff as she sensed that powerful presence just beyond the darkness. She could hear the Seviper still struggling, but there was an icky sound that sounded like something was sliding on something slimy and sticky, not a sound Berry wasn't used to due to her own body and the way she slithered, but this sounded more pronounced, and something about it made Berry even more anxious.

When Berry finally got close enough to be able to see the figure that had snatched up the Seviper, she immediately wished she hadn't. She could see a large looking Dragon towering over her, its stomach was big and purple, it had long and strong looking antennae on its head, its feet looked small but its thighs were big and thick, it also had arms. There was green goo dripping off its arms. But what Berry was staring at was the Seviper's tail and the blade tip of it, the front half of the Seviper was in the Dragon's mouth, and Berry couldn't stop staring in horror curiosity as the Dragon slowly slurped up the still struggling Seviper's tail, not seeming at all bothered by its movements, or the blade of its tail.

Once the Dragon had slurped up the Seviper's blade, it gave a loud gulping sound that sent shivers down Berry's body. The Dragon licked its lips, and it was then Berry realized the Dragon had green eyes, and more green goo falling from its chin. It then noticed Berry shivering nearby. The two locked eyes for a moment, Berry feeling both fear and wonder, and for some reason, Berry could tell this Dragon was female. Then without warning, the Dragon Pokemon started making her way towards Berry.

Berry let out a yelp before she quickly hopped back towards Splash. "Splash! We have to get out of here!"

Splash was frozen in fear seeing a towering Dragon coming towards them. All he could do was stare in terror, as though he didn't hear Berry's words.

"Splash!" Berry called out, seeing that the Wooper wasn't moving.

Knowing that if she didn't do something quick, they were both going to be this Dragon's dessert. She jumped at the frozen Wooper, and used a weak Tackle to push him down. Splash gasped when Berry's body was on top of him. Thinking quickly, Berry shot out a Water Gun on the ground, going across under the Dragon that was coming towards them, then Berry pushed Splash onto the now wet ground after he had been covered in her slime, and both of them went sliding under the towering Dragon.

The Dragon turned around, a bit surprised at the move. After they finished sliding, Berry pushed Splash with her head. "Snap out of it, Splash and run!"

Splash snapped out of it, stepping away from Berry. He looked back to see the Dragon was now facing them and walking towards them. Without wasting another second, he started to run off ahead, with Berry following close behind.

The two of them didn't stop moving as the Dragon started to move faster. Despite its small feet and thick legs, it was moving pretty fast, and quickly closing the gap. Berry wasn't sure if they'll be able to outrun it for much longer, that is, until she felt something under her that didn't feel like the cavern's floor. The next thing Berry knew, she and Splash suddenly fell down a deep hole.

_Ugh… a Pitfall Trap…? This is the first time I ran into a trap in a dungeon…_ Berry inwardly groaned after landing on the hard floor.

Splash got back on his feet, slowly shaking his head from the fall. "What...what happened?"

"We fell down a Pitfall Trap," Berry answered.

The Goomy looked up at the hole they fell down into, and saw the Dragon's head, though the Dragon wasn't looking down at them, it was looking around, like it couldn't tell where they disappeared to, before it turned around, showing its thick tail that had a curl at the tip of it, and walked away somewhere.

Berry let out a sigh of relief. "I think we're safe, the Dragon didn't seem to notice we fell down the Pitfall Trap."

"And how is this any better?!" Splash asked, starting to freak out about being trapped with Berry.

"Of course it's better, at least you're not trapped down here _with _the Dragon, right?" Berry asked, hoping to be optimistic.

At the remark, Splash paused for a moment, staring at Berry for a good second. "Yeah...you can say that."

Berry looked up at the hole and started to think on how they could get out, she couldn't stay down here and wait for rescue, she needed to get out so she could get the Chrysalis Flower.

Unbeknownst to the Goomy, the shaken up Wooper was silently studying Berry himself. He couldn't help but notice a few things that were similar to Berry and that Dragon that chased them. They both had very similar colors, not only that, their colors were in the same places, they had the same lavender color on the top half of their body, and a darker purple at the bottom half, they also had those green spots. The Dragon also kept dripping goo from what Splash could see, just like Berry was. The Dragon had that wild look in its eyes like all wild Pokemon did, but the thing that bothered Splash the most about this was that the wild look in its eyes was similar to Berry's when she got really angry with him that one time.

The longer Splash studied Berry, a single question kept coming to his mind. _Berry...What exactly are you? You were always different, like some sort of deformed Wooper. But Dad was always glaring at you and Mom, as though she did something horrible._

"I've got it!" Berry suddenly said loudly.

"Gah!" Splash jumped back, his thoughts were interrupted by Berry's sudden outburst.

"I know how I could get us out of here," Berry informed, turning to Splash. "It might be a bit difficult, but I can probably stick to the walls and slither up out, though I'll have to carry you-"

"N-no, I'll stay here," Splash quickly said.

Berry frowned. "But you'll be stuck if you stay here."

Splash stubbornly stomped his little foot. "I'd rather stay here than have you carry me. I'll figure something out."

"What is your problem with me? I know that we didn't exactly get along, but you're acting like I'd eat you alive or something if you so much as touch me," Berry questioned.

Splash flinched at those words, losing is recent bravado only seconds ago. "A-and how w-would I know you wouldn't d-do it again?!"

"What?" Berry gave a confused look at Splash. "I never ate you! I don't even eat meat!"

"B-but you nearly s-sucked the life out of me!" Splash shouted back.

Those words shocked Berry into silence. Splash, noticing Berry's silence, started to fidget under her shocked stare. It took Berry a minute for her brain to register those words, and think back on the day Splash was supposedly hit by the Vileplume's Mega Drain attack, and her discovery of her power outbursts. It wasn't hard to put two and two together.

"I… I did that…?" Berry croaked out.

Splash remained silent as he looked away, too afraid to give Berry an answer. But his reaction was more than enough for Berry to realize why he had been so afraid this whole time. Why he always stayed away from her after the accident. His silence was all the answer Berry needed.

* * *

Dust had been following Eclipse for some time now, though despite how long the two walked, they were still in the same black empty space. Dust didn't know where his mother was leading him, but at the moment, he figured it was better than sitting around and waiting for his time to come.

"Dust," Eclipse suddenly stopped, causing Dust to almost crash into her. "Tell me, what do you remember from your first time being here?"

Dust was confused by the question but thought about his first time. "Truth be told, I don't remember much. I remember this big empty space, and I remember seeing you. But that's about it. Did we have a conversation last time?"

Eclipse shook her head. "No, I was only here to keep you company."

"But why?" Dust asked.

"Dust, you know why you are here, and where here is, but you still haven't asked a very important question." Eclipse explained.

Dust thought about his mother's words, wondering what she meant. _Important question? What could my mother be talking about? _As he thought more and more about his mother, something dawned upon him. Something he should've realized and should've asked from the very beginning.

He stared into the eyes of Eclipse, a bit afraid to ask his question. "You...you are not my mother, are you?"

"You'd be correct. But do you know who I am?" 'Eclipse' asked.

Dust had an idea, but by all accounts it shouldn't be that, but the more he thought about it, the more it made sense to him. He hoped that he would be wrong, but at the same time he couldn't help but feel a bit curious if he was right. He gulped as he slowly answered the Absol in front of him.

"...Death."

The Absol that looked and sounded just like Dust's mother smiled at him. "Correct."

The Absol's body flashed for a second, and was shown to be Giratina in his Origin form. Dust took a step back at seeing the giant, Legendary Ghost/Dragon type.

"Although I will say that it bothers me how so many Pokemon think that Yvelta is Death, that giant bird only causes death to those around it, not Death itself," The Giratina grumbled in annoyance.

Dust was too shocked to say anything. In a way, he was right and wrong, but he never expected to be in the presence of Giratina. Whether this was good or bad, Dust would find out soon enough.

Giratina sighed as he looked down at the shocked Absol. "Well, Dust Absol, if you have any questions about me, I suggest you ask them now. If nothing else, I could help sate your curiosity while you wait for your… fate."

"Questions?" Dust asked, no longer feeling fear, but only the all too familiar feeling of curiosity. "I may have a few questions."

* * *

"I… I can't believe I did that to you! Why didn't you tell me that I did that to you? Why didn't I know about this sooner? Why do I even have these stupid power outbursts!? Why am I such a danger to everyone!? This isn't fair! Why am I like this at _all_!?" Berry cried out.

Berry had been freaking out over the past minute and a half. Splash pushed himself against the wall, scared that Berry would suddenly drain him dry again, or blast him with her Dragon Breath move. Berry, despite freaking out, took notice of Splash's fear, and turned away from him just in case she _did _lose it.

"I wanted to become a Crusader to help Pokemon, not put them in even more danger! Now my partner is dying because of me! You almost died because of me! Blizza probably could've died because of me! I'm not a Crusader, I'm just a monster!" Berry shouted.

Splash was against the wall, looking away from Berry, and at the mention of her friend and Blizza, he turned towards Berry, being even more terrified than before. "Y-you used Absorb or that other weird a-attack on them?!"

Berry stopped shouting, and didn't answer for a moment, which made Splash feared that she finally snapped. However, Berry simply turned to face Splash, which made him freeze up. "On Blizza… yeah. On my partner… no… it was the toxins in my slime that put him in the hospital."

Splash stared at his sister, still afraid, but a little bit calmer than before. "...Is that why...you're here?"

Berry just gave Splash a sad look. "Yeah… It was why I'm trying to get back to Spring Swamp to get a Chrysalis Flower. It was my fault he ended up that way, so it's my responsibility to help him."

Splash was having mixed feelings. He felt both scared but also sympathetic. "Then you should go. Go and get that flower."

"I appreciate the encouragement, Splash, but I'm not leaving without you," Berry said firmly.

Splash shook his head. "I'll only be slowing you down. You'd be better off on your own."

"I'm a Crusader, Splash, it's my job to help Pokemon," Berry said. "You… you could still get out without me having to carry you, however."

Splash blinked at that. "I could?"

"The hole is a bit deep, but not too deep. Since you've always had a much stronger Water Gun attack than I did, you could aim it at the ground and have it propel you out of the hole," Berry informed.

"But that was back then," Splash explained. "If anything, my Water Gun is much weaker compared to yours."

"I'm not as strong as you think. That incident back then was an accident, I had no control over myself. I can't use these super powerful moves at will," Berry explained.

"I'm not just talking about...whatever your outburst is. I'm talking about before, when you were facing that Seviper, or how you got both of us away from that Dragon Pokemon. I-if I was on my own, I wouldn't have lasted long against them," Splash admitted.

"All the more reason for us to stay together until we get out of here," Berry said. "Look… maybe I can help propel you half way and you can get out with your own Water Gun from there. I won't even have to touch you."

"What do you mean by-" Splash began to ask when suddenly Berry started to spray him with Water Gun.

The Water Gun didn't hurt, if anything Splash felt energized from it, but it still made him flinch from the sudden supposed 'attack'. Berry moved her head up, pushing the Wooper further up towards the exit of the hole until her Water Gun couldn't stretch up anymore.

Splash realized what Berry was attempting to do. Just as her Water Gun started to sputter, he quickly used his own Water Gun, giving him enough thrust to push him over and out the edge of the hole. He couldn't believe that it worked. He quickly got up and started cheering, completely forgetting about his fears for a moment.

"I can't believe it worked! Berry, it actually worked!" Splash shouted as he looked into the hole.

Berry was already climbing up the wall, going up the hole herself. "I'm glad, then! You could probably thank my partner for rubbing off on me!"

Just as Berry climbed out of the hole, Splash hopped towards her, about to embrace her, but then his fears returned and he stopped himself. While still being afraid, it was a lot less compared to when they were in the hole.

"T-this friend of yours must be something special. What Pokemon are they?" Splash asked.

Berry gave Splash a small smile. "His name is Dust, and he's an Absol."

"An A-Absol?!" Splash shouted, surprised that Berry was partnered with such an ill-omened Pokemon. "Your partner is an Absol?!"

"Shhh! Remember, we _are_ in hostile territory," Berry shushed. "But yes. He's not… exactly what you'd picture an Absol would be like. He's very… friendly in a way, he's not at all stoic, he loves asking questions, and ranting on about things. He also tends to get crazy and unconventional ideas. But he is also my best friend, he didn't judge me for my appearance, if anything he's been trying way too hard to encourage me, like saying things like I'm a Dragon type or something."

"A friendly Absol? That's almost as crazy as a Spoink deciding to stop bouncing," Splash laughed a little but then thought about what Berry said about Dust trying to convince her about what she is. "You know, I think your friend...might have been on to something."

Berry, however, had stopped listening after Splash laughed, she was looking around for anymore dangerous wild Pokemon, using her antennae, and was relieved when she didn't sense that big Dragon anymore on the floor. "We should probably talk more about this later, we need to get through this dungeon first before we run into anymore unwanted surprises. Oh, and Splash… I'm sorry. I can't say I like that I hurt so many Pokemon around me, but I can't change what had happened. All I can do is try to be better in the future, and have better control of myself."

Splash didn't say anything, only nodded. The two then continued on through the dungeon, with Berry taking the lead and Splash following after, still keeping some distance, though not as far as the first time they meet.

* * *

**Waterfall Cavern 9F**

Berry and Splash had been travelling in silence. Although it wasn't uncomfortable silence, neither of the two had much to say to each other. Berry did a good job at helping both of them stay hidden from wild Pokemon. They did have to stop and take a break to eat some Apples once in a while before continuing on. Sometimes a wild Pokemon would catch up to them, but Berry and Splash were able to knock it out since only the smaller and weaker Pokemon could catch them by surprise, as Berry was only looking out for the stronger ones.

The more they travelled together, the less afraid Splash would get, but he would still keep a safe distance from Berry. Years of fear had cemented their way into core, and while he is a bit more trusting of Berry, his instincts kept him from getting too close.

When they reached the 9th floor, however, things got more complicated.

"Wait…" Berry suddenly said, making Splash stop. "I sense a very strong presence on this floor. I think it's that Dragon Pokemon we ran into back on the 5th floor."

"What?" Splash whispered. "Are you sure?"

"Oh yeah, I wouldn't mistake that particular presence," Berry shivered as her antennae went stiff.

"What do we do then?" Splash asked.

"Let's try to go around the dungeon and find the stairs or the exit before that Dragon finds us. She seems to be staying in one spot right now anyways," Berry informed.

"Wait… 'she'? How do you know it's a female?" The Wooper questioned.

"I'm not really sure, she just seemed… female to me," Berry replied. _It is kind of odd though, it's usually harder to tell what gender wild Pokemon are, more so than civilized Pokemon unless they have a clear gender difference in species._

Splash gave her a curious look, already adding to his suspicion about Berry. "...If you say so. Let's go then, the farther we get from that Pokemon, the better."

Berry nodded before they jumped into the nearest water and started to swim through the Mystery Dungeon. However, they either only came upon dead ends, or went in a big loop. They ate almost their entire stocks of apples. Berry noticed a wind was starting to pick up around them. _Where is that wind coming from…?_

After covering almost every part of the floor, the two ended up near where they first started.

Splash sat down, letting out a disappointed sigh. "Where's that staircase?"

"Well… it either doesn't exist, or it's right next to that Dragon Pokemon since it's the only place in the dungeon we have yet to look," Berry answered with a sigh of her own.

"Please tell me you're kidding." Splash responded, hoping he was right.

"Considering we pretty much covered the entire floor, I don't think I am," Berry stated with a deadpanned look.

"And you're sure the Dragon Pokemon is still there?" Splash asked.

"Well… considering she hadn't moved this entire time, it's possible that she's asleep, so… if we're quiet enough, we might be able to sneak past her," Berry suggested.

"...Okay." Splash agreed with her plan.

Berry lead the way towards where she sense the Dragon Pokemon. As they got closer, they made sure to get quieter and quieter. The antennas on Berry's head suddenly went stiff, causing Berry to stop. She could sense that they were very close to the Pokemon now. She looked around and spotted a staircase off in the distance. Unfortunately, she also saw the same Dragon Pokemon lying close by the stairs. The Dragon Pokemon was lying on her stomach, its tail curled on her side, and she breathed slowly. Berry noticed that the Dragon was sleeping in some shallow water with a small nest next to her that looked big enough for an egg or a small Pokemon to fit in, but the nest itself was empty.

Berry and Splash, quietly and slowly, started to make their way towards the stairs, their hearts pumping faster as they were getting closer to the Dragon Pokemon. Berry thought that they would make it for sure, unfortunately, however, it would seem the Dragon Pokemon's longer, and much stronger antennae, worked similarly to Berry's, since they suddenly twitched and moved up, sensing their presence. The Dragon Pokemon opened her green eyes, looking at Berry, before the Dragon suddenly became angry.

The Dragon Pokemon pushed herself up to her feet, before letting out a roar. "GOOOOOODRAAAAAAA!"

Berry and Splash flinched at the loud roar. Quickly recovering, they rushed towards the stairs, hoping to escape from the Dragon Pokemon that shouted 'Goodra'. But just as they were halfway to the stairs, the Dragon Pokemon lashed out with her antennas, using them like a whip. Hitting the spot right in front of Berry and Splash, it sent a powerful shockwave, knocking them away from the stairs. As they got up, they see that the Dragon Pokemon was now standing in the way between them and the stairs as if she knew what they were planning.

"I… think she's… angry that… we trespassed… her nest…" Berry groaned, feeling sore from the earlier shockwave that knocked them back.

"W-what do w-we do now?" Splash asked, his body starting to shake.

"Don't panic!" Berry answered.

The Goodra began to power up something in her mouth. Both Splash and Berry paled, seeing that it looked like it was going to be a powerful attack.

"Split!" Berry suddenly instructed.

The Goodra shot out a powerful red and purple energy that turned into the shape of a massive dragon. Berry and Splash jumped away from each other, hoping to dodge the massive attack. Although they managed to avoid the brunt of the attack, it was powerful enough to still send them both flying into the walls. Splash fell into the water, while Berry hit the ground, causing her body to flatten for a moment. She hissed as she quickly turned the satchel she was wearing to her side, so she could open it and take out an Oran Berry.

The Oran Berry was a bit squashed, likely from that attack earlier, but Berry quickly popped it into her mouth, and swallowed. The Oran Berry healed up most of her wounds, but the Goodra started running towards her. Berry yelped as the Dragon turned itself around, to slam Berry with her tail. Berry was hit, as she was unable to dodge in time, and fell back several feet. It was only thanks to her Defense Scarf that she hadn't lost consciousness right then and there. The Dragon started to approach her, still with an angry look in her eyes.

"Ugh… I'm sorry… that we woke you up… and trespassed on your territory… but we only wanted… to leave…" Berry said, hoping to try to reason with the wild Dragon.

Either the Dragon didn't understand or didn't care, she opened her mouth, charging another attack just like the red and purple one she did before. It was almost fully charged, and just as the Dragon Pokemon prepared to fire her attack, she is suddenly hit in the back of her head with a Water Gun. Ceasing her attack, she turned to see Splash facing her, his body shaking.

"Y-you stay a-away from my sister!" Splash shouted. It took every ounce of will power to stand his ground. Every part of his mind was telling him to run and hide, but he refused to move an inch.

"Splash! Run away! Get out of here!" Berry shouted, wanting her brother to get to safety before the Dragon would attack him.

The Dragon, however, already leashed out her antenna, grabbing the Wooper's body before pulling him back towards her. The Dragon Pokemon examined the squirming Wooper.

"No! You put him down!" Berry yelled, but the Dragon Pokemon was ignoring her.

Splash tried wiggling himself out, to scream, but the antenna was wrapped tightly around his body, making it harder to breath. He could barely move, much less say anything. Now only mere inches from the Dragon's face, Splash was fearing that this was the end for him.

He didn't want to die, not now, not when he never even got the chance to apologize to Berry. _I'm so sorry, Berry. Sorry for how I treated you. I just wished I could've told you myself._

Despite knowing she didn't stand a chance, Berry charged up a Dragon Breath attack before firing it at the Dragon's torso. The Dragon, despite her being hit by a super effective move, didn't budge an inch from the attack, but it did get her attention.

"Put my brother down!" Berry demanded.

Berry was expecting to see the same angry look when the Dragon turned to face her. Instead, she was confused to see that there was shock and confusion on the Dragon's face. Berry no longer felt any hostility from the Dragon, only that she kept on staring at Berry.

"Please, put my brother down," Berry repeated in a softer tone, not sure why the Dragon was looking at her that way.

Without taking her eyes off Berry, the Dragon lowered Splash to the ground, releasing her grip on the Wooper. As soon as he was released, he gasped for air, able to breathe again. Splash quickly hopped to where Berry was, getting right beside her.

"Are you okay, Splash?" Berry asked, though she didn't dare take her eyes away from the Dragon.

Splash was breathing hard as replied. "...Let me...catch my...breath." After a few seconds his breathing returned to normal. "...I'm okay. I-I thought I was gonna d-die back there."

"Goo… Goodra…?" The Dragon said in a questioning tone.

Berry frowned, not sure what the Dragon… the Goodra wanted. "I… thank you for releasing Splash… now if you don't mind, we will leave and we won't bother you anymore."

The Goodra frowned herself, and looked to be deep in concentration about something. While the Goodra was distracted, Berry softed pushed Splash to move, they started to slowly make their way around the focused Goodra to try to get to the staircase behind her.

_We're almost there…_ Berry thought, trying to keep her heart rate under control.

_So close, and we're free…_ Splash followed close behind, doing everything his can to prevent his body from shaking.

"Goo… Goo...my… chi...ld…?" The Goodra suddenly said.

This surprised Berry enough to make her stop, she didn't expect the wild Goodra to be able to talk.

"Lo...st… ch...ild… Goo...my…" Goodra said slowly, not used to the words.

Goodra then turned around, likely noticing that they had gone around her. Instead of an angry look, she was giving Berry a sad and regretful look. Berry was confused, but she also couldn't help but feel sad herself when she looked at the Goodra's eyes.

"Berry!" A voice shouted to her, but she was too focused on staring at the Goodra. "Berry! We have to go!" The voice shouted louder this time, Berry now realizing that it was her brother shouting at her.

"O-oh… right…" Berry managed to tear her eyes away from the Goodra, and slithered up the stairs with Splash behind her.

* * *

**Waterfall Cavern 10F**

When the two of them reached the top of the stairs, they saw a big open chamber, and the exit of the cavern up ahead. They had reached the last floor.

"I...I can't believe it." Splash said out loud. "Why did that Dragon let us go?"

"I… don't know… but she seemed really… sad," Berry replied softly as they started to slither and walk toward the exit. "From what I could gather from her… words, she lost a child, that was apparently a 'Goomy'."

Splash thought about what Berry had said, and about his earlier thoughts on what Berry is exactly. "Hey, Berry. The thing your friend said about you being a Dragon type...I think he was right. And not just any Dragon, but I think the same kind of Dragon that wild Pokemon was."

"Don't be ridiculous, Splash. I look nothing like a Dragon type, and I doubt I would turn into that big Dragon type we saw down there," Berry grumbled.

"But you have the same colors, you both also secret slime constantly, are you sure that you're not a part of that same species?" Splash questioned.

"I might be similar to that Dragon, but I'm not the same species. Can you really look at me and that Dragon and say we would turn out to be the same species just because of a few similarities?" Berry asked.

"M-maybe." Splash stuttered, starting to doubt himself a bit. "B-but that doesn't mean you might not be a Dragon type."

"Just because I have a Dragon type attack doesn't mean I am a Dragon type. Lots of non-Dragon type Pokemon can learn Dragon type moves," Berry pointed out.

Splash wanted to say more, but his fear of Berry started to grow more and he didn't want to make her angry. So he decided to drop the subject. "O-okay...M-maybe you're r-right."

"Besides, that isn't important anyways," Berry sighed tiredly. "What's important is that we're here, at the end of the dungeon."

Berry and Splash stopped at the mouth of the cave, Berry looked at Splash. "I thank you for your help, Splash, you saved me from being obliterated back there. Now we can go our separate ways from here. I'm going to get a Chrysalis Flower, and you can go back home and not worry about me anymore."

Berry was about to exit, but then Slash stepped in front of her. "Wait! Before you go… I w-wanted to s-say," Splash was stuttering again, afraid of what Berry's reaction might be. "I'm… I'm sorry!"

The Goomy blinked at the Wooper. "Why are you apologizing? If anything, I should be the one apologizing to you."

Splash shook his head as tears were starting to roll down from his eyes. "All I've done is treat you horribly. Since I was the oldest, I always pushed our siblings to keep away from you. I said all those awful things, making you feel bad about yourself. If it wasn't for me, you wouldn't have lost control back then. I've always been afraid of you ever since that day, but I couldn't help but feel horrible for making you go through that."

Berry looked at Splash for a moment, before giving a small smile. "Thank you, Splash, I appreciate the apology. You don't know how much that means to me, and I'm glad that you've matured since then. I mean of course I didn't like that I lost control, or that you became scared of me, but if any good came out of it, it's that you finally realize what you've been doing. I think you'll be a great Pokemon when you grow up, Splash."

Splash looked up, shocked at what Berry said, but was even more surprised that Berry believed in him. He returned the smile to his sister. "Thanks. And I think you'll become a great Crusader one day."

"Heh, thank you. Maybe if we do meet again one day, we'll show each other how much we've grown," Berry chuckled. "Until then, I hope you continue training to get stronger, Splash, maybe even join a guild and become a Crusader yourself. Maybe I'll also get to introduce you to Dust as well."

"If he's anything like you described him, I wouldn't mind meeting your friend. Even if he's an Absol." Splash shared the laugh.

Both of them didn't need to say anymore, they gave each other a smile and a look of hope for each other. Although Splash still had some fear for Berry, he also had admiration. Berry was happy to see her brother again, and having heard him apologize made her feel better about herself and more determined to do what she must to help others.

They both went their separate ways after a minute, silently promising to see each other again someday, and to become stronger than ever. Splash headed back to his home while Berry went to where the Chrysalis Flowers grew.

* * *

**Reviews**

**Greatest Guy****: DarkFoxKit:** Heck yeah she feels guilty. So she's taking it upon herself to get the cure for Dust before he croaks, even if it means going alone in a dangerous Mystery Dungeon and facing her past again.

**Travelling Master: **And good job for instantly noticing after he got tired, even Dust himself hadn't noticed until it was too late. And he's the one with the poisoned body! So good on ya.

**HauntedHaunted90****: Travelling Master: **Hey, you're all good. While it's always nice to hear from our readers, that doesn't mean you have to feel obligated to do so. But it is nice to hear from you again.

**DarkFoxKit:** The idea of a Goomy being raised by Wooper came from the anime where Ash's Goomy was best friends with a Wooper, but I didn't see any other Goomy there. And also a tribute to Donfyre, a friend of mine who's gone off to college.

**InfernalzRush****:** Author used update.

It was super effective!

Author used Late

Author's stress went up!

Co-Author fell asleep.

Author's annoyance went up!

Berry will be facing her past a bit, but not all of it. She doesn't have to go to where her family is to get to the Chrysalis Flower. But she did run into one of her brothers. And, heh, what do you think about that Dragon type?

**Travelling Master: **You would think that, unless her Mew Game involved Mars. ***Shudders at remembering my last encounter with Mew* **Sometimes I think Mew reads the comments and gets her ideas from there.

**Dust: **And I haven't been causing any trouble! At least I have the decency to be here on time.

**Guest****: DarkFoxKit:** Uh… are you saying you're Donfyre or did you just put that name there for whatever reason?

**Travelling Master: **The only thing I can think of is this one Author that comes to mind. It's the exact same name, but what I don't get is why a Guest would randomly put only the name there.

**DarkFoxKit:** Oh, and Travelling Master, Mew says she'll be here soon to pick you up.

**Travelling Master: *Gives a confused look.* **Uh...why?

**DarkFoxKit:** I needed someone to punish you for being on late today.

**Travelling Master: *Gives a surprised Pikachu face. Suddenly there's a flash of light, and I see that I am now a Pikachu and end up giving a legit surprised Pikachu face* **Oh no!

**Mew:** Travelling Master~ Are you ready to play?~

**Travelling Master: **WE ALREADY PLAYED LAST TIME, AND IT WASN'T EVEN MY FAULT!

***Travelling Master disappeared with Mew***

**DarkFoxKit: *Giggles*** Have fun~


	10. Chapter 10: The Cure

**DarkFoxKit:** So… Travelling Master, you have anything you want to say to the readers?

**Travelling Master: **Uh...welcome back?

**DarkFoxKit:** About our schedule you fiery lizard goofball.

**Travelling Master: **Oh that, uh...sorry? I mean Mew already punished me enough so, lets just say I'm going to be staying away from spaghetti for a while now.

**DarkFoxKit:** Are you doing this on purpose?

**Travelling Master: **No, I'm just kidding. In all seriousness, I am sorry that I lost track of time last week.

**DarkFoxKit:** Travelling Master has been busy with his family for the past several days, we haven't been able to get much writing in lately. So we may not be able to update every Friday like we had hoped.

**Travelling Master: **I'm going to be leaving shortly too, going to a different state. I won't know how my schedule is, but hopefully I'll be able to work things out so that me and DarkFoxKit can continue writing.

**DarkFoxKit:** Until then, please forgive the slower updates and try to bear with us for a little while. I do hope it won't turn out like my last Mystery Dungeon series where the story ended up getting abandoned.

**Travelling Master: **Hopefully it doesn't. And I'm sure it won't, Dust well at least keep nagging me to continue writing the story.

**Dust: **You got that right! You guys have any idea how long I have been waiting for a story about me? This guy created me a long time ago and it took forever for him to finally make a story about me. So you can bet that I won't let him forget about this story!

**DarkFoxKit:** Travelling Master, weren't you on the run from the law due to you destroying half a city and kidnapping certain people?

**Travelling Master: **...No time for that! Save all questions for the end. For now, let's get back to the story!

**DarkFoxKit:** … I swear, between you and Mew, I'm shocked I haven't been thrown in jail yet.

* * *

**Chapter 10: The Cure**

Phantom woke up before her brother did. She and Spooks heard about what happened to Dust when Team Silkwing went to get her grandmother after Dust had passed out in the hallway. Phantom couldn't help but worry, she liked Team Night Tide, especially after showing them around the guild. She and Spooks eventually fell asleep in their grandmother's horns, unable to stay awake. However, Phantom felt she didn't get enough sleep due to her worry for the Absol. She could only imagine what poor Berry was going through during all this.

Chihiro was already awake, being the Guild Master, she usually woke up before most members of the guild did. Phantom slowly floated out from Chihiro's horn before she turned to face her grandmother.

"Grandma, is it okay if I go visit Dust?" Phantom asked. "And maybe check on Berry?"

Chihiro smiled at her granddaughter. "Of course you can, but make sure to ask Dr. Perfume permission when you get there. He might be busy checking on Dust. And give Berry my regards, it will do her good if you keep her _spirit_ high."

"That… actually is one of your better puns," Phantom noted. "Thanks, Grandma, let Spooks know where I am if he wakes up before I get back."

Chihiro nodded as she watched Phantom leave the room. _Ever since meeting Team Night Tide, Phantom has been more outgoing. Seems like she had taken a good liking to them._

The young Dreepy, being half Ghost type, was able to phase through the door without needing to open it. It was one of the perks of being a Ghost type, especially since she had no hands to open any doors with. Phantom floated through the walls, knowing a shortcut to the Medical Bay since she knew this guild so well.

Phantom stopped when she got into the waiting room of the Medical Bay. She floated over to the Comfey at the counter. "Excuse me, is Dr. Perfume busy? I'd like to ask him if I can visit Dust Absol."

The Comfey was surprised to see only Phantom. "Oh, Phantom. Didn't expect to see you here by yourself. Dr. Perfume is busy, he is still working on making a cure for Dust, but you can still check on him."

"Thank you, Ms. Comfey," Phantom said gratefully before she floated to the door that lead into the hospital rooms, phasing through it.

The young Dreepy looked for Dust's room, and didn't take long to come across it. She looked through the window, seeing a nurse Audino trying to take care of the unconscious Absol. Dust didn't look too good. Phantom did notice that there was a pink scarf around his neck. Phantom phased herself through the window.

"Nurse Audino," Phantom spoke up. "What is Dust Absol's… condition?"

Audino gave a little jump at hearing Phantom. After turning to see who it was, she calmed down. "Phantom, you gave me a fright." She smiled but it quickly went away as she turned towards Dust. "For now he is...stable. The Pecha Scarf that he is wearing is helping to slow down the Toxin from spreading through his body. But that is only a temporary solution. But don't you worry, Dr. Perfume has been working non stop on a cure, he'll make one soon enough."

Phantom looked at Dust, and floated closer to him. She frowned when she sensed his spirit. Being part Ghost type, Phantom could sense a Pokemon's soul more naturally than most other types, and she didn't like what she was sensing. She could tell Dust's soul was on the verge to leaving his body. Phantom never went near a Pokemon that was dying or just died before, so it was a new yet unnerving experience for her to sense how close Dust's soul was to just being gone from his body.

_He doesn't have much time…_ Phantom frowned. _I wonder what's going on in his head? He must be so scared being so close to death._

* * *

"And that concludes my questions," Dust said out loud, causing Giratina to sigh in relief, when suddenly. "Well questions concerning your physical nature. Now on to the Distortion World."

"I have dealt with many curious souls in my immortal life, but you, by far, had more questions than all of them _combined_," Giratina grumbled, interrupting Dust's more lines of questions.

"Well you did say I can ask you any questions that I have." Dust explained. "If I only have a short time, I need to ask all the necessary questions. Now, let's continue."

"Yes… I did. May Mew and Arceus have mercy on me…" Giratina sighed, unable to stop the questions flowing out of the curious Absol's mouth.

* * *

Phantom looked over at the counter after she finished looking at Dust, wanting to see what was in his bag, Phantom was curious if there were any precious items or family photos he brought with him. Phantom thought maybe he would want to see it one last time before he passed if Dr. Perfume couldn't cure him in time, and she was sure her grandmother put Dust's bag on the counter, but she was confused when she didn't see the bag, instead, she saw what looked like something slimy on the counter where the bag used to be.

"Did… Dr. Perfume move Dust's bag and put something… slimy on the counter?" Phantom questioned.

The Audino looked at where Phantom was looking at and shook her head. "Not that I know of. I assumed Dr. Perfume took it with him. As for the slime...I'm not sure. Perhaps Dr. Perfume had brought back the sample he got from the Goomy."

"So why is there a trail of it going down from the counter and onto the floor as well?" Phantom asked, seeing that there was indeed a trail of the slime that went down towards the floor.

"Hmm...I haven't noticed. I was more focused on checking the Absol's condition." Audino went to the slime to get a better look, starting to get a little concerned. "I'll be back, I'm going to see if Dr. Perfume knows anything about this."

Phantom frowned as the Audino left the room, she began to get a little suspicious herself. _Berry wouldn't… just take the bag and go out herself, would she?_

Phantom flew out of the room, and started to fly past another, though she did get a glimpse of the nurse Audino asking a nurse Chansey to check on Dust for her while she went to get Dr. Perfume for a brief moment before she kept going. The little Dreepy quickly flew into the hallway where team rooms were. She hurried to where Team Night Tide were staying, and floated into the door.

"Berry…?" Phantom hesitantly called before noticing a certain Lucario. "Brody? What are you doing here?"

"Gah!" Brody jumped, surprised to hear another Pokemon in the room. He quickly turned to see Phantom in the room and regained his composure. "Hey Phantom. Didn't see you there. What are you doing here?"

"I came here to check on Berry. I wanted to know how she was doing since her partner is in the Medical Bay," Phantom answered. "But you still hadn't answered my question, what are _you _doing here? Don't tell me you came here to watch Berry sleep."

"N-no, of course not! I would never do something so perverted. No, I was…" Brody paused for a second, trying to think of a believable excuse. "I was just checking on Berry, just like you. But when I came, she was still asleep."

Phantom looked at Berry's bed, seeing something round was being covered by a blanket. "Did she come into Dust's room last night and take Dust's bag?"

"Um...I don't see why she would. She's been in her room the whole night, sleeping," Dust explained.

"It's just… I know my grandmother put Dust's bag on that counter last night, but when I went to visit him just now, I didn't see the bag there anymore, instead, I saw a trail of goo that looked like something or someone climbed up that counter, likely to take the bag," Phantom informed. "I was just wondering if it was Berry, since I doubt any of our other slimy members would have a reason to do that."

"Well... that is strange, but I can assure you that it wasn't Berry," Brody said, hoping to convince Phantom.

"Oh? If it wasn't Berry, then perhaps you wouldn't mind removing that blanket off of her so I can see if that's actually her under there?" Phantom questioned, using her right stub to point at the blanket.

Brody stepped in between Phantom and the blanket that was supposedly covering Berry. "You don't want to do that!"

"Why not?" Phantom asked, raising an eyebrow at Brody.

"Why not?" Brody repeated the question.

"Yes, that is what I asked you," The Dreepy grumbled.

"Well...it's because she's… still sleeping. Wouldn't want to wake her up. In fact, we should both go," Brody said as he went to lead Phantom out the door.

Phantom, however, phased through Body's hand and flew over to the blanket, before lifting it up with her mouth, seeing a ball instead of a Goomy. "I knew it. You're not a very good liar, Brody. I also can sense souls, so I knew Berry wasn't here when I didn't sense anything from this ball."

"I admit, lying isn't one of my strongest traits. Your grandmother can attest to that. I still remember the first time meeting her," Brody agreed, trying to change the topic.

"Oh stop," Phantom spoke up. "You know, us kids pull this stunt a lot, right? It would've been easy for my grandma to see through this. I take it Berry went out to try to find a cure for Dust?"

Brody kept his mouth shut, looking away as he started to look a bit nervous.

It was all the answer the Dreepy needed. "I see... Grandma is not going to be happy about this… one of her newest members is lying on his deathbed, and the other going off to a dangerous place on her own…"

Brody finally looked at Phantom, figuring there was no point in trying to hide it any longer. "You're right, she wouldn't be happy, which is why she gave me the task last night to prevent Berry from leaving."

"And you instead helped her, right?" Phantom guessed.

Brody nodded. "I can tell that nothing was going to stop her. She would've done anything to get out and help her friend. So I decided to help her sneak out while I covered for her."

Phantom let out a sigh. "Even though I should be mad at you for letting her go like that… I can't help but admire Berry's spirit. She sounds determined to help her partner, so much so that she's willing to put herself in danger just for a chance to save him…"

"She really does have a heart of a Crusader," Brody agreed. "Which is why I'll need your help."

"My help? For what?" The Dreepy asked.

"Well, like I said earlier, lying isn't my best traits. You were easily able to figure out what happened to Berry. But with your help, we can make sure no one notices that Berry even left," Brody suggested.

"Heh… well Spooks, Chloe, and I are pretty good at playing games like this, it's like Hide-n-Seek," Phantom chuckled. "I'll help, at least until something happens to Dust. First thing, however, is getting rid of that trail of goo that Berry left at the counter. I should warn you that I don't think we'll be able to trick my grandmother so easily, so let's hope she doesn't come here before Berry gets back."

"Then it's settled." Brody went to the door but then turned to look at Phantom. "You know, you are very clever, just like your grandmother."

Phantom couldn't help but blush slightly at the compliment. "I hope to be just like her one day."

"And I'm sure you will be. Now let's go before anyone else gets suspicious," Brody said, opening the door for both of them.

* * *

Berry was slithering through the swamp. Although she was technically back home, she was going in the opposite direction from the nest she grew up in. Nevertheless, she was still hit with a wave of nostalgia, even though she hadn't been gone for that long.

_It does feel pretty good to be back home, even if I don't have a lot of good memories here._ Berry thought to herself as she was slithering by the lake. _I would used to come here to try to make new friends, but everyone thought I looked weird or ugly. I guess it didn't help that most of my siblings called me the melting berry Wooper in front of the other kids._

Berry shook her head slightly, before hopping into the water, wanting to swim across the lake to try to find the flower. _Now… if I remembered what Mom said, she and Dad got the Chrysalis Flower on top of a small hill that grew on the other side of the lake._

While Berry was swimming, she noticed a Swanna coming into the lake, and about 5 Ducklett were swimming behind her. Berry recognized that Swanna. _She used to hang out with my siblings all the time, even though she was older than all of us. I guess she finally evolved and mated._

Some of the Pokemon at the lake noticed Berry swimming by, and started to whisper to each other. Berry decided it was in her best interest to ignore them and continue to where the small hill was.

"Hey…" A voice called out to Berry, though she tried to ignore it. "I recognize you. You're that deformed Wooper."

Berry frowned as she recognized that voice, though it sounded deeper and a little more different than when she last heard it. She stopped swimming, turning her head to the side, seeing a Marshtomp floating on the water a few feet away from her. Berry didn't recognize him, so she blinked.

"Um… have we met…?" Berry asked.

"I guess we never really did catch each other's name. I'm Quaker, I was one of the Mudkip who was playing with your siblings. I believe it was the same day you woke up that Lombre. Man that was hilarious," Quaker started laughing.

"Oh… right," Berry sighed. "I guess I didn't realize you evolved since I rarely went to the lake myself."

"I was wondering where you went. By the way, what's up with the snazzy red scarf and bag?" Quaker asked, pointing to both items on Berry.

"I needed these for my mission," Berry answered.

"Your mission…?" Quaker asked before he started laughing. "Are you still pretending to be a Crusader? Aren't you a little old for games?"

Berry gave an annoyed look at the Marshtomp. "Nobody is too old for games, and I'm not pretending, I really am a Crusader now."

Quaker gave her a skeptical look. "And I'm secretly Kyogre disguised as a Marshtomp."

"If you want proof, then look at this badge," Berry huffed, taking out her Crusader badge from under her scarf, holding it with her antenna. "You see? I couldn't fake something like this!"

Quaker was actually amazed after seeing Berry holding her badge. "Woah. I guess that means they'll let anyone be a Crusader these days. Do you think if I just showed up they'll make me a member too?" Quaker laughed while asking his question.

Berry grumbled, having already expected this reaction before she placed her badge back under her scarf. "You can do whatever you want. I need to go get a Chrysalis Flower."

Berry turned away from Quaker and began swimming again.

Quaker decided to follow her, having fun with the conversation. "So why do you need a Chrysalis Flower? Is your mission collecting a bunch of pretty flowers?"

"No, it's for my partner," Berry answered shortly, still swimming.

"Oh. Is he your boyfriend?" Quaker asked in a sort of mocking tone. "Unless your partner is female…" He paused for a second, letting the thought sink in. "Is she your girlfriend?"

"No on all of those," Berry huffed. "He's an Absol, and he is really sick. The Chrysalis Flower is for his medicine."

"An Absol?!" Quaker shouted. "Woah, that's pretty crazy. And why's he sick? I thought Absol were supposed to be strong."

Berry frowned. "Anyone can get sick, Quaker, it doesn't matter how strong you are. And… it's my fault he got that way in the first place, because of the toxins in my slime."

"He's sick because of your slime?" Quaker asked, having a hard time believing it. He then started laughing. "I take that back, I guess Absol are really weak. I was wondering how you managed to be partnered with one in the first place, but if both of you are weak, it makes sense."

Berry hissed before she swam in front of Quaker, stopping in front of him. "You can make fun of me all you want, but don't you dare talk about my partner that way! He may not be the strongest Absol ever, but he's stronger than someone like you would ever be! He's lying on his deathbed right now because of me, and you have the gull to make fun of him for it!? It's Pokemon like you who make me sick! Now either shut up or leave me alone!"

After that hissy fit, the Goomy turned around and swam away from the stunned Marshtomp. She was half expecting him to continue following her, or make some other remark, but to her relief, Quaker stayed where he was at. Though Berry did feel a little guilty for shouting at Quaker like that, she felt that he deserved it.

Thankfully before long, Berry finally found the small hill she was looking for, though it was less of a hill and more of a slope. She could see blue-green flowers blooming at the top, and a few that were still in their bud stages, those in the bud looked like cocoons, hence their name.

_Those gotta be the Chrysalis Flowers. Now I just have to get up and pick one._ Berry smiled before she started to slither up the slope.

Unfortunately for Berry, however, the slope was covered in mud. The mud began to move down while Berry tried to slither up. Berry frowned, unable to get any higher as the mud were falling faster than she could slither up. Berry tried to jump, but she only got stuck in the mud doing so, and fell back into the water.

_Okay… I guess I can see why some Pokemon may have a hard time getting up there…_ Berry frowned to herself.

Berry moved the satchel to her side and started to dig around for any items that could help her. She had mostly Gravelerocks, Oran, Cheri, and Pecha Berries, and a few Orbs, like RollCall, Escape, and Cleanse Orbs, but nothing that would help her up a muddy slope. _Great, now what do I do? I… could probably try using my Water Gun to propel myself… but this slope is too high, and I might not be able to control where I go if I get too high…_

Berry shook her head. _No, there has to be a way. I can't give up now, not when I'm so close!_

For the next while, Berry kept trying to find ways up the slippery slope to get to the Chrysalis Flowers, but no matter what she tried, she kept slipping back down, getting herself muddy, and tiring herself out trying to jump or slither up by force, only to no avail. Berry panted, her antennae drooping.

"I… guess I really am useless…" Berry said sadly. "Can't even… get up a stupid… muddy slope…"

"Do you...need some help?" A familiar voice asked Berry from behind.

Berry turned, surprised to see Quaker was there. "Quaker…? Why did you… follow me?"

Quaker looked down, a bit regretful. "I… I thought about what you said. And...I wanted to say sorry for all those things I said. I didn't realize that your partner isn't doing really good."

The Goomy softened up at hearing the apology. "Well… I'm glad you apologized. I'm sorry for snapping at you like that. I've just been feeling guilty that I put him in such a state, even if I didn't do it on purpose."

Quaker shook his head. "Hey, no need to apologize, I deserved it. I didn't realize you were going through a lot of stuff. But hey, at least you're trying to do something to help your partner."

Berry gave a small smile at that.

"So do you need some help… um… you know, you never did tell me your name," Quaker sheepishly chuckled.

"It's Berry, and yes… I would appreciate some help," Berry answered.

Quaker gave a small smile and nodded.

Berry turned to the slope. "So… since you're a proper Water and Ground type, you could probably harden the mud, or have me ride on you so you could climb up-"

"Oh, I have a better idea." Quaker said with a hint of amusement in his voice.

Then, without warning, Berry was suddenly lifted up. She turned to see Quaker had picked her up and was moving his arms back.

"W-wait, what are you-" Berry started to ask, before the Marshtomp threw her with such force that if her scarf hadn't been on tightly, she would've lost it right then and there.

Berry let out a scream as she was thrown into the sky, way above the slope, and ended up accidentally tackling a Tranquil that was flying by in the stomach.

"OW!" The Tranquil yelped.

"Sorry!" Berry apologized quickly as she began falling back down.

Thankfully for the Goomy, she landed on top of the slope, though not without getting mud all over her gooey body.

"Sorry," Quaker shouted from the bottom of the slope. "Didn't mean to throw you that hard. On the bright side, we finally got to play catch."

Berry was groaning as her body was flat from the impact. _Note to self; never play catch with a Marshtomp._

The Goomy stretched herself out, trying to recover from the impact, and shake off the mud, though her body still had mud on it. Berry decided to ignore the rest of the mud as she approached the Chrysalis Flower patch. She smiled, seeing that some of them were in bloom, and carefully picked one with her antenna. With the flower in her grasp, she carefully opened up the satchel and very gently put the Chrysalis Flower in before closing the satchel.

"Okay! I got it!" Berry announced before she jumped onto the slope, letting it slide her down into the water.

Berry splashed into the water, splashing Quaker in the process. "Thank you, Quaker, I wouldn't have gotten the Chrysalis Flower if it weren't for you. Maybe you're not such a bad Pokemon after all… just… be more careful the next time you decide to throw someone."

Quaker blushed a bit, slightly embarrassed. "No problem. And I'll work on my throw next time. Are you going to need some help getting back to your partner?"

"Well… perhaps you could carry me back to the entrance of Waterfall Cavern, I can make my way back from there," Berry said.

"Waterfall Cavern? As in the Mystery Dungeon?" Quaker frowned. "Why not go around it?"

"Because it would take me a couple of days to go around, even by Carriage, the Mystery Dungeon is the quickest way back," Berry answered. "Besides, I can use an Escape Orb or my badge to warp me back to the otherside, getting over here was the tricky part."

"Wait, are you telling me that you actually went through Waterfall Cavern to get here?" Quaker asked in disbelief. "There's all sorts of dangerous wild Pokemon there!"

"Mm-hmm, I know, I ran into a few," Berry sighed. "I was able to avoid most of them though, thanks to my antennae, they can sense when a dangerous Pokemon is nearby. But even so, a Crusader can't allow fear to stop them from doing what's right."

Berry then slithered onto the Marshtomp, climbing up onto his shoulder. "Now let's get going, I want to get back to my partner as soon as possible. And… here."

Berry took out a Pecha Berry from the satchel. "Eat this after you put me down, just in case, I don't want to accidentally poison you too, be sure to wipe off the slime though."

Quaker took the berry while looking at Berry with awe and wonder. "Um...okay. Thanks."

With that said, Quaker began swimming quickly to take Berry back to the entrance of Waterfall Cavern so she could go home and save her partner.

* * *

Giratina had lost track of time since meeting with the Absol. Dust had not ceased his questions, and while some of them were very good ones, others he felt were either non-important or useless. Finally, Giratina had enough.

"Enough!" Giratina shouted at Dust, shocking him into silence. "When I gave you the chance to ask me any question, I thought you were going to ask me questions like 'What is the meaning of life,' or "What happens to you after you die.' Almost everyone I've meet always asked if there's a heaven for them. But you waste this opportunity by asking me all these useless questions!"

After waiting a few seconds for Giratina to finish his rant, Dust decided to explain himself. "Well I wouldn't exactly say useless, or even wasteful."

Giratina let out an annoyed sigh. "What good will all these answers do you if you die?"

"Well, that's the thing, there's still a chance that I'll make it," Dust explained. "I believe that the others are doing their best to help me. Plus, if I do happen to recover, I'll be taking along with me all this knowledge."

"If you believe that you'll recover, why ask me such simple questions? I have knowledge of all the secrets on this world. I've been here since the beginning, seen history through its course. You could ask me anything." Giratina questioned the young Absol.

"True, I don't doubt your knowledge, and I'm sure if I did ask, I would receive an answer, but then what's the point?" Dust asked.

"What's the point? What do you mean?" Giratina asked back.

"If I were to learn all the secrets, gain all the knowledge there is of this world, then there would be nothing left for me to learn." Dust explained. "The reason why I want to learn so much is because I know there's so much that I don't understand. Knowing everything takes the joy from learning it myself. Besides, if I do actually die, how do I know I won't come back anyways as a Ghost Pokemon?"

Giratina stared at the young Absol, perplexed by his reasoning. "I've met countless Pokemon in my lifetime, but you are very different, to say the least. Though I suppose that makes sense, not often do Pokemon have a chance to meet me, much less a second time."

Dust then frowned as he remembered he had a limited time, and he had no idea how much of it had passed since he started asking Giratina all his questions. "I don't have much time, do I?"

"I'd say you have less than 2 days now," Giratina answered. "The doctor still haven't come close to creating the cure to your poison."

Dust frowned even more. Before he was content with asking questions, not only did it satisfy his curious hunger for knowledge, it also helped him take his mind off on a lot of things. But now he had different kinds of questions going through his mind. _What would happen to my mother? How would Berry feel if I were to…_ Dust didn't finish that thought, but he can only assumed that Berry would feel disheartened losing her partner.

_As for mother…_ Dust shuddered, feeling sorry for the poor soul who would have to break the news to his mother. _She won't be happy, that's for sure._

While Dust was thinking this, Giratina suddenly looked up, almost as if something interesting caught the ghostly dragon's attention. "Hmm? … Oh, what an interesting… development."

"What is it?" Dust asked.

Giratina gave a smile, though it was hard to tell with how his mouth was covered by his yellow scale head thing.

* * *

The Blitzle stopped the Carriage once she reached the Unity Guild's entrance. It was now late afternoon, almost evening, since the way back to the guild took several hours.

"Okay, we're here," The Blitzle announced.

The now tired and somewhat muddy Goomy slithered off of the Carriage, before she turned to the Blitzle. "Thank you… here… it's the least I could do for your services."

Berry gave Blitzle about a 200 Poke tip, mostly Poke she managed to collect while at the Waterfall Cavern. Blitzle stared at the Poke in disbelief. After a few seconds, she reaches for the Poke, but only taking 100 Poke from Berry.

"100 Poke will be enough. You look like you had a rough day. Plus your friend made it seem it was very urgent that you get a ride." Blitzle smiled at Goomy.

Berry gave a tired smile. "Thank you."

Berry turned to the guild and slithered her way in. Although she was tired, Berry slithered as quickly as she could, she had a friend to save after all.

When the muddy Goomy made it to the front door, she used her antennae to knock, waiting for someone to open the door. After a few seconds went by, the doors began to open and Berry saw that it was none other than Carrie herself opening them. Carrie noticed Berry, but gave her a bewildered look.

"Hello there. It's always nice to see a new face at our guild. How can I help you today?" Carrie asked.

"Yes, how can we help you today?" Chloe repeated, trying to sound professional like her mother.

Berry looked up at Carrie. "Ms. Carrie, don't you recognize me? It's me, Berry!"

Both Carrie and Chloe look at Berry, even more confused now, with Carrie speaking up first. "Berry? What are you doing here?"

"Yeah, that Lucario said that you were stuck in your room," Chloe added.

Berry blushed a little, having forgotten that she had snuck out of the guild. "Um… well… uh… could you take me to Dr. Perfume, please? I'll explain later."

"Alright, but save your explanations till later. Something tells me you're going to need your energy for later," Carrie explained as she pick up Berry, holding her between her arms.

Carrie didn't waste any time getting to the Medical Bay, wondering why Berry wanted to see Dr. Perfume, and a part of her was worried that Berry might be sick, she certainly looked exhausted and quite messy.

The Kangaskhan walked into the waiting room, seeing the Comfey at the counter. "Is Dr. Perfume available, it's kinda urgent."

"Yes, he is. He's taking a break from working on the cure to Dust Absol, since he doesn't have enough ingredients," The Comfey answered. "I'll send him here."

Carrie nodded before she went to a nearby empty large seat before sitting down.

"So… what were you doing?" Chloe asked Berry when Carrie put her down in her pouch. "Playing out in the mud somewhere?"

"No, I was getting something important," Berry answered.

Thankfully, they didn't have to wait long until the Aromatisse came out of the hospital room. He walked over to Carrie. "I heard you needed me for something?"

"Doctor!" Berry jumped up out of Carrie's pouch and slithered over to Dr. Perfume. "Please, take this Chrysalis Flower and use it to make Dust's cure!"

Berry dug into the bag and, carefully, took out the Chrysalis Flower and held it up with her antenna.

Dr. Perfume couldn't hide his surprised face as he gently took the flower from Berry. "A Chrysalis Flower?! But how did you acquire one?"

"At Spring Swamp, there's a patch of them that grows there," Berry answered. "I managed to get one that was in bloom. Do you think it'll be enough to save Dust?"

"Yes, it should. The trouble I've been having was trying to find a strong enough source to counteract the toxins in your slime, but the toxins ended up overpowering them. With the ingredients in the flower, I should be able to create an antidote for Dust." Dr. Perfume explained before turning to Berry. "I don't know what ordeals you went through to get this flower, but I promise you, it'll be enough to save Dust."

Without wasting enough second, Dr. Perfume returned to his office to work on the cure. He called on his assistance to provide him help, leaving Berry and the others to wait.

"I'm going to notify Chihiro, she needs to know what has happened. Will you be okay waiting here by yourself?" Carrie asked Berry.

"Yeah… I'll be fine. Oh, but please tell the Guild Master to not be hard on Brody, this is all on me and I take full responsibility for leaving without permission," Berry requested.

"That Lucario has gotten himself in more trouble than I can count, but I think Chihiro will go easy on him this time." Carrie gave Berry a reassuring smile.

Berry gave a small nod before Carrie left to go inform Chihiro. Berry tiredly crawled up to one of the smaller chairs, though she was getting mud and slime all over it, she was too tired to care at this point. She allowed her body to flatten as exhaustion was catching up to her. The muddy Goomy could finally relax, knowing Dust was, hopefully, in good hands now.

* * *

Dust had wondered what caused Giratina to suddenly look up. Something must have happened but Giratina didn't answer his question, causing him to be both curious and anxious at the same time.

"Is everything alright?" Dust asked Giratina.

Giratina stared at Dust for a few seconds before deciding to respond. "It seems as though fate is smiling upon you."

Dust tilted his head, unsure of what Giratina meant. "Fate? What do you mean?"

"It seems that your faith in your friends has paid off. The Doctor now has the necessary ingredients to make an antidote to cure you." Giratina explained.

Dust couldn't believe what he heard. "But how? You said Dr. Perfume couldn't make the cure in time."

"Yes, I did say that," Giratina answered. "But your friend has returned with a Chrysalis Flower."

"A Chrysalis Flower? Those are extremely rare. How did she obtain one?" Dust asked.

"I do not know, but it seems as though she went through many trials to bring you this flower." Giratina noted.

Dust didn't fully understand what Giratina meant by that, but he was surprised that Berry went through all that struggle just to help him. _Berry, I don't know how you did it or what challenges you faced, but...thank you._

Giratina suddenly caught his attention. "Listen now, for our time grows short. I mentioned before that one rarely meets me, even rarer a second time. Only a few in my lifetime have had this opportunity to return to the living."

Dust looked up at Giratina, both feelings of interest and foreboding going through his mind.

"First, your experience here will have given you a unique gift when you recover. As to what that gift may be, that is for you to find for yourself," Giratina suddenly got close to Dust until he was eye leveled with the Absol. "Fate may have given you a chance at life, but if you return here, there is no going back. Your spirit will cross over if we meet again as you have come close to Death twice already, a third time will bring your soul out. So I advise you to be extra careful if you don't want to die before your body expires naturally."

So many questions went through Dust's head. So many mixed feelings were making it difficult to focus. He would've been able to sort them through when Giratina started to rise up, as though he was preparing to leave.

"Wait! I have so many questions!" Dust shouted.

Giratina chuckled, staying down at the Absol. "I'm sure you do. But next time you meet a Legendary Pokemon, don't overwhelm them with your questions. Some of them are not as patient as me."

Dust had wanted to call out to Giratina, but it was too late. Giratina had faded away leaving Dust alone once more. Luckily for him, he wouldn't have to wait long, his body soon filled with exhaustion. Despite being full of energy during his time with Giratina, now it seemed that he could barely stand. No longer able to withstand it, he finally gave into his exhaustion as everything went dark.

* * *

**Reviews**

**Greatest Guy****: Travelling Master: **That would be a funny and interesting idea if most of the Legendary Pokemon were in fact, lonely. While that's not the main reason for Giratina speaking with Dust, I would like to think he doesn't mind the occasional conversation, once in a while.

**DarkFoxKit:** As for Berry, she kind of is in denial. After all, knowing and accepting something are two different things. XP

**Jewel moonstone****: DarkFoxKit:** Yeah, but that doesn't mean Berry will try to. She's actually trying not to figure it out.

**Guest****: DarkFoxKit:** The dragon is wild, who had been taught some levels of being civilized, Not enough to be civilized, so a semi-civilized wild is more accurate. And as for her being Berry's mom… we'll let you figure that one out. :3 As for Berry's blackout moments being her real powers, well, kind of? They're more like aces in the whole type powers, or like 'final limit' or something you'd see in RPG games. You can only use them when you're on your last legs, and they are very powerful, but once you use them, you also tire out. So it's a double-edge sword and only for emergencies.

Berry accepting she's a dragon may take a while, she seen herself weak and ugly, so to suddenly be told otherwise is shaking her entire world. It's easier to cope with a lie you thought was real for your entire life over a truth that went against everything you believed in.

Berry has no reason to keep her encounter with her brother and the Goodra hidden from Dust. As for the Guild Master, Chihiro, she will do what she can to support Berry, but she is busy with her own responsibilities. So unless Berry and Dust come to her specifically about it, Chihiro will let them sort it out themselves.

Most of these questions are meant to be seen rather than answered on here, so we'll let the story do the talking. And you're fine. Seeing questions like these means that you're interested in wanting to know more.

**ArcherAmpharos****: DarkFoxKit:** Nice guess there. The Goodra could be Berry's mother, though we won't confirm it yet. The explanation of Berry's egg will be explained later on, it's meant to remain a mystery until we get to the revealing part of it. And Berry doesn't run into the Goodra again here, but she might again in the future, hopefully not too far into the future. And yeah, Splash did antagonize Berry the most when they were kids, so it was nice for them to reconcile a little.

Your reviews seem pretty good.

**The Moonfox Collective****: Travelling Master: **Glad that you are now caught up...again...WHOOOOOO! Anyways, kinda hard to deny a tutor like Giratina themselfs. But as you probably have seen, Dust ended up asking all sorts of questions.

**DarkFoxKit:** Berry could've easily put 2 and 2 together if she had let herself, but she was too afraid to. She's afraid to accept the truth. So you weren't wrong about that guess of Berry not figuring it out. After all, it is easier to accept a lie you believed in all your life rather than a truth that went against everything you thought was true. I also look forward to the day Berry will finally accept herself.

**InfernalzRush****: **Author used update.

Reader is happy!

Author and Co-Author used delay.

Reader's morality when down!

Co-Author used Run Away!

Author used Shout at Co-Author.

It had no effect.

**DarkFoxKit:** Don't worry, we can have Dust dying on us yet, the story just started. Also, glad to hear that you were inspired enough to replay the original Mystery Dungeon game. You planning to get Rescue Team DX? If you don't know what that is, it's a Switch remake of the original Mystery Dungeon game.

**Travelling Master: **On a side note, MUDKIPS ARE BEST! Glad to hear you got Mudkip, one of my favorite starter Pokemon.

**DarkFoxKit: *Rolls eyes*** Yeah, Mudkips are cute, but show Totodile some love. It was my first Water starter, and it was fun to use. Now if only his evolution were quadruped instead… that would be amazing~ Maybe someday, in a different form.


	11. Chapter 11: Awakening

**DarkFoxKit:** I can see you're packing. Looks like this might be the last update for a while.

**Travelling Master: **Yup. ***I pause so that I can take a break from packing.* **And after that I still have to figure out what my schedule is gonna be like. So it'll be tough to be able to do another update.

**DarkFoxKit:** It'll be tough to find a schedule for us to be able to write too.

**Dust: **Yes, it is unfortunate, but everyone all has different lives, and with that different schedules too. But from my experience I know that time can be made. You just have to find the right opportunity. Because if you don't, I'll be hounding you for the rest of your life until you do.

**DarkFoxKit:** I think Mew says she'll also be keeping an eye on Travelling Master… just in case.

**Travelling Master: **...That's...reassuring. But yes, Dust will make sure to help me find the time to continue working with DarkFoxKit.

**DarkFoxKit:** We'll try our best to figure it out once Travelling Master gets settled in his new area. Let's hope that it won't take too long so we can get back to writing and updating for you lovely viewers~ Until then, I hope you guys will be patient with us. If you're reading this in the future and we've been updating a lot since then, then congratulations, you got to skip out on the waiting. XP

**Travelling Master: **For now, enjoy the chapter- ***Suddenly I'm shoved by a certain Lucario***

**Brody: **Wait! You are forgetting one very important thing!

**Travelling Master: **Brody?! How did you even get here?

**Brody: **Forget that! What you need to tell your readers is to have a very lovely Valentimes Day! Especially all the ladies, and if any of them are looking for someone to spend time with them on this special day, tell them that Brody is available for all.

**DarkFoxKit:** Oh, I'm sure there are plenty of Pokemon fans who would just love to have at it with a Lucario. And no, I'm not being sarcastic.

**Brody: **Really?!

**Travelling Master: **Uh, Brody, it's not what you think…Trust me.

**DarkFoxKit: *Smirks evilly*** No, no, Travelling Master, let the Lucario find out on his own time~ Anyways, I wish you all a Happy Valentine's Day. Chin up and enjoy some nice chocolates, but not too many chocolates.

**Travelling Master: **Couldn't agree more. Now as I was saying before I was rudely interrupted. Enjoy the chapter, and we'll get back to you as soon as we can.

* * *

**Chapter 11: Awakening**

Berry groggily blinked open her eyes, her body felt a bit numb, but she forced herself to sit up, yawning a bit. The hospital was pretty quiet, the other Pokemon seemed to have left. Berry wondered if it was night and nobody bothered to wake her up. _How long was I asleep?_

Dr. Perfume then came into the waiting room looking very exhausted. When he saw Berry, he tried to give her a smile but it quickly faded. "Berry, thank you for being patient with me. I'm sure it's been a long day for you."

Berry looked over at Dr. Perfume, she hopped off of the chair and slithered over to him. "Dr. Perfume… how's Dust? Is he going to be okay?"

Dr. Perfume sighed, giving the room a few seconds of silence. "I'm sorry. I did the best I could… He didn't make it."

Suddenly, it felt like the world around Berry was frozen. She stared at the Aromatisse, unable to believe what he just said. "... What…? N-no… you… you said that the Chrysalis Flower would be enough… you said it'd save him!"

"I'm sorry." Dr. Perfume repeated. "The flower would've helped, but we ran out of time. By the time I finished the antidote, Dust was already… I'm sorry."

"No… no, I don't believe it, it's not true!" Berry shouted, tears falling from her eyes. "Let me see him!"

Dr. Perfume step to the side to let Berry through. He said nothing as she slithered out the waiting room.

For some reason, the hallway felt a lot longer and bigger than it should've, the soft lights looked were now a bright glare, making it difficult for Berry to see. Still, Berry didn't stop until she found Dust's hospital room. The door was already open, but despite the bright lights in the hallway, it was pitch black in the room. Frowning at the oddity, Berry slithered into the pitch black room.

As soon as Berry was in the room, however, bright lights suddenly came on. Berry shut her eyes for a moment before she managed to force them open. The bed Dust was laying on seemed a lot shorter, making it easier for her to see him.

"Dust…?" Berry slithered towards the Absol.

There was no response, no reaction from Dust. He laid there, unmoving. Berry moved closer, hoping to see any signs of movement or breathing, anything to let her know that her partner is okay. But the closer she got, the more uncomfortable she felt looking at the still body.

"Dust! Please wake up! Please answer me!" Berry called out in desperation.

Berry started to slap Dust's face with her antennae in hopes of getting some kind of reaction, _anything_. She even sprayed cold water in his face with her Water Gun.

"..._Berry..._" Berry looked up, she thought she heard someone nearby. At first she thought it was Dust but his body still showed no signs of life. "_...Berry...what have you done?"_

Berry turned around and was surprised to see Chihiro right behind her. She didn't hear nor sense the Guild Master come in.

"G-Guild Master Chihiro… I-I didn't h-hear you come in," Berry nervously said before she frowned. "Dust isn't… dead, is he…? He's just resting, right? H-he'll wake up soon, w-won't he?"

Chihiro slowly pointed at Berry. "_You did this to him," _Despite Chihiro being right in front of her, her voice seem to echo off.

"I… I'm sorry, Guild Master! I didn't mean for this to happen!" Berry shouted.

"_You were too slow," _Suddenly Carrie appeared from nowhere while pointing a claw at her. "_Had you been faster, Dust would've been saved."_

"No… no… Dust isn't dead!" Berry shouted desperately.

Suddenly the floor opened up, Berry gasped before she and Dust fell through the floor. She found herself at a graveyard all of a sudden. Berry blinked, before seeing Dust wasn't lying in a hospital bed anymore, but a coffin.

"NO! DUST!" Berry cried.

The other guild members were all gathered around her and Dust, bowing their heads in sorrow, though Berry had trouble seeing their faces clearly.

"_How could you?"_

"_You murderer."_

"_You don't deserve to be a Crusader!"_

"_This is all your fault!"_

"_He would've been alive if it wasn't for you."_

"_You always end up harming those around you."_

Berry was shaking, tears flowing down from her eyes. "Stop it, please stop! I'm sorry! If I could, I would bring Dust back and quit the Crusaders for good!"

The voices didn't stop their accusations, however, and Berry started to slither away as quickly as she could, squeezing herself through the surrounding Pokemon. There were suddenly more Pokemon appearing out of nowhere, though they were covered in shadows, but their voices were starting to mix together. Berry gasped when she saw Blizza, lying on the ground, looking almost as lifeless as Dust did. Crimson picked up Blizza, giving her a sad look, before he glared at Berry.

"_Looks like you were stronger. Congrats, you murderer." _Crimson spat out.

Berry kept slithering away, wanting to get away from everyone. Everything was shrouded in darkness, it was like she was in a dark cave, only she couldn't sense anything. There was a light up ahead, and she quickly slithered to it, hoping it would lead her away from here.

Berry was shocked to find herself back home at Spring Swamp. She looked around, confused, and started to slither forward before she felt something under her body. Berry quickly jumped away, and saw Splash, but he was lifelessly laying on the ground, his body as shriveled up as a raisin.

"S-Splash…?" Berry weakly called.

"_What did you do?!" _Berry turned to see her Mom and Dad standing behind her. Wave picked up Splash holding his lifeless body between his arms. "_What did you do?!"_

"_I knew it was a mistake caring for you." _Damp added.

"No! It's not my fault! IT'S NOT MY FAULT!" Berry shouted.

Suddenly there was an explosion in the swamp. Fire began to run rampant around the area, Pokemon were screaming and fleeing. Despite this, Damp and Wave kept looking at Berry like they didn't notice what was going on around them. Berry backed away in fear as a huge shadow towered over them. It was that Dragon, that 'Goodra' she saw back in Waterfall Cavern, but it was much bigger than she remembered it being, and it looked far more sinister. It opened its mouth, the inside of its mouth glowing a radioactive green.

"Mom! Dad! B-behind you! Look out!" Berry warned.

"_This is all your fault," _They both said at the same time.

Neither of them bothered to move as the Dragon Pokemon continued to charge its attack. They just kept on staring at Berry with a look of disappointment. The Dragon then released their attack, the green radioactive energy blast hitting her parents.

Berry could do nothing other than watch in horror. When the attack stopped, Wave and Splash were completely vaporized, but Damp was somehow still there. Damp fell to the ground, her body missing an arm and her tail, and was covered in burns.

Berry couldn't move, she felt paralyzed as the Goodra walked up to her mother, who was somehow still alive. Damp twitched and opened her eyes, looking at Berry. The Goodra's antennae lowered and wrapped themselves around the almost dead Quagsire and lifted her up.

"M-Mom!" Berry cried out, finally able to say something after being frozen.

As the monstrous Dragon started to push Damp into its mouth feet first, Damp was still looking at Berry. Berry tried to use an attack, but for some reason, nothing was coming out of her mouth. She was still too frozen to try a Tackle attack.

Finally, when only Damp's head was sticking out from the Dragon's mouth, she said something. "_You're just as bad as this monster."_

Berry stiffened as the Dragon swallowed up her mother, and as soon as it did, it suddenly grew bigger and more powerful looking. Berry started to shiver in both shame and fear when the Dragon approached her, she knew she couldn't outrun it, and her body still refused to move. The Goodra suddenly wrapped one of its antenna around Berry, easily lifting her up. Berry felt a little constricted, but still numb if there was any pain. Berry didn't bother to put up much of a fight, she felt this was her best outcome, an outcome she deserved. The Goodra's glowing green mouth opened as she was pulled into it. Berry closed her eyes, her body feeling completely numb.

Then, when Berry snapped open her eyes, she found herself standing in the middle of the now ruined swamp. There was no more fire, but the damage was already done. There was Pokemon lying lifelessly around her. Berry looked around, trying to find the Goodra that was about to eat her earlier, but she didn't see any traces of it. Curious and scared, Berry made to slither, but instead of slithering, she felt something under her moving instead. She gasped, feeling her body was different, and she realized she had something added to her body.

Looking down at herself, her body was a lot bigger and taller, she had limbs like arms and feet, and her stomach was easier to see. She looked back, seeing she also had a tail now. Then Berry looked down into the water, seeing her reflection. Berry paled when she saw she wasn't that small, deformed Wooper anymore, but that Dragon monster who killed and ate everyone she knew.

"What… WHAT HAPPENED TO ME!?" Berry screamed, causing the entire swamp to shake.

Berry continued to scream at the horror that she has become. She closed her eyes, wishing for to be back to her original body. At this point she didn't care if she was mocked for the rest of her life, if she was deformed. She'd wish for anything instead of being this monster.

"Berry?" A familiar voice called out to her, causing her to stop screaming.

She opened her eyes and saw Dust in front of her, completely fine. "D-Dust? You're alive?"

Berry didn't wait for Dust to answer, instead she rushed to him to give him a hug, though she didn't know how she was able to run without falling as she was used to slithering for her entire life. Dust didn't make any effort to stop her, and seem fine despite Berry being much larger than him.

"Why did you do it?" Dust asked Berry, giving her some confusion.

Berry stopped when Dust suddenly asked her the question. "Huh…? Why did I do what?"

Dust stepped away from Berry. "Why did you kill me?"

Berry got very afraid and was about to answer but then she looked into Dust's eyes and stopped herself. The red and blue eyes Berry was always used to seeing before were no longer there. Dust's eyes were blank, completely void of any life, and yet he continued to stare back at Berry.

"You knew your slime was poisonous, and yet you did nothing," Dust accused Berry as he took a step towards her. "We've been partners for this long and you let me die."

As Dust continued moving towards Berry, his body started to slowly change. Each step caused parts of his fur to fall off, while other patches soon lost their white color, becoming a dark gray. Berry took a step back everytime Dust took one step forward, his body slowly deteriorating with each step.

"Dust… stop… please…" Berry begged, not knowing what else to do.

Dust ignored her pleas. "I had so many things I wanted to do, so many things I wanted to say! But now, I'll never get a chance to do any of them!"

Berry tried to move away but her body suddenly hit something. She looked behind to see a giant wall was preventing her from moving back any further. She turned to Dust and almost screamed. Now only a few feet away, his body hardly had any fur left. His horn had broken off, parts of his body were either missing or looking a sickly gray color. The only thing that didn't change was his lifeless eyes that continued to stare at Berry. When he was only a few inches away, he suddenly stopped.

Sensing what Berry was feeling, Dust gave her a sinister smile. "Do I scare you? Do I look like some sort of monster? That's funny, cause out of us two, you're the true monster here."

"No! No I'm not!" Berry denied.

Berry gasped when Dust suddenly lifted up one of his decaying paws and touched her chubby belly. Without warning, Berry's slime started to surround Dust, and his paw was getting absorbed into her belly. Berry tried to push Dust away, or move, but she was completely frozen. Her body refused to do anything she wanted it to, and Dust was started to get flooded by both her slime and her gooey body.

"Stop! Stop it! Please stop!" Berry cried, wanting this Distortion World to end.

"Berry…"

"I can't stop it!" Berry screamed as Dust's body was becoming unrecognizable.

"Berry… wake up…"

"I'm so sorry, Dust, you shouldn't have had a monster like me as your partner…" Berry apologized, still unable to stop what was going on.

The entire area was now flooded with green and purple goo. Berry couldn't even tell what was her body anymore. Suddenly, Dust's normal face popped into Berry's view, his mouth moved like he was saying something, but Berry couldn't hear what he was saying. Berry felt drowsy, and she closed her eyes, the last thing she saw was Dust's worried look.

* * *

It had been about an hour since Dust was finally allowed to leave the room. When he had woken up earlier, his entire body felt sore. Beside was Dr. Perfume, constantly checking his vitals. Shortly after waking up Dr. Perfume explained everything that had happened. He also told Dust that Berry was in the waiting room, sleeping. Dust wanted to go check on her, but Dr. Perfume refused, explaining that he needed to be sure that his body was okay.

After waiting for an hour, Dr. Perfume gave Dust permission to check on Berry, but that he had to return shortly after. When Dust came into the waiting room he was glad to see Berry sleeping on one of the chairs, but he was shocked to see her body a lot dryer than usual while being covered in mud. If Dr. Perfume hadn't told him that Berry was in the waiting room, he might've mistook Berry for another Pokemon.

"Berry." Dust said, wanting to greet his partner. "Wake up."

Berry did open her eyes a little, but she shortly closed them again. She suddenly started apologizing in her sleep, sounding distressed about it.

"I… can't… stop it… I'm so… sorry Dust… you shouldn't have had… a monster… like me… as your… partner…" Berry mumbled.

On a closer look, Dust noticed how restless Berry was, so he gently grabbed her with his claws and started shaking her. "Berry! Wake up! It's only a dream!"

Berry opened her eyes again, but she was still stuck in dreamland, her eyes closed again. Dust didn't know what to do to help his friend.

"Is she dry?" The Comfey at the counter asked in concern as she watched Dust desperately trying to wake his partner up.

"Yes, she is. Dr. Perfume said she looked like this when she came," Dust replied.

"Oh, then in that case…" Comfey left the counter, and floated to the back to get something.

Dust anxiously waited for whatever it was the Comfey was doing, then the Comfey floated over to him and the still sleeping Berry. Dust noticed that the Comfey had her flowers wrapped around a large bottle of water.

"If a Goomy is dehydrated, they're not very likely to wake up," Comfey explained. "Their bodies stay asleep to try to preserve them as much as possible. Here, try to pour this bottle of water onto her and see if that helps."

Dust normally would've asked more questions, finding the information interesting, but right now he was more concerned with Berry. "Thank you," Dust said as he took the bottle from the Comfey.

Turning back to Berry, Dust started to pour the water on top of her, not caring about the mess he was about to make. He watched closely, seeing the water cover Berry's entire body, washing a bit of the mud off, looking for any signs of her waking up. He was surprised when there was no more water from the bottle.

"Do you have any more?" Dust asked.

"I'll go get some," The Comfey answered, quickly leaving to find more water bottles.

Dust turned back to Berry, still trying to see any signs of her waking up. "Berry, come on. Please wake up."

Berry's eyes did open a little again, and thankfully, this time she didn't close them, but she was out of it.

"Berry, can you hear me?!" Dust shouted the moment he saw Berry's eyes open.

"Don't shout, you'll only give her a headache," The Comfey warned as she came back with another large water bottle. "Here, try pouring this on her."

"Sorry," Dust said as he grabbed the bottle.

He poured more water on Berry, occasionally stopping to either wipe off more of the mud on her body, or to check to see how she was doing.

"... D… Dust…?" Berry softly questioned as she was becoming more aware.

At hearing Berry say his name, Dust ceased pouring. "Berry, are you okay?"

Berry blinked a few times, not sure if what she was seeing was real. "Dust… are you… going to be a zombie now?"

"A zombie?" Dust was caught off guard by the question. "I wouldn't think so. But who is to say I won't become one? There has been no records of any zombie incident, only stories. I never really paid too much attention to those books, they seemed to be more fiction than facts. I am curious now, what would cause one to become a zombie? Would the symptoms be similar to that of the stories? Or perhaps-"

"Dust! You're not a zombie!" Berry suddenly said in happiness, she jumped at Dust, but then she suddenly gasped and made herself drop to the ground before she could hug Dust. "Wait… are you actually okay? Didn't you die?"

"Die?" Dust repeated the question. "No I didn't die. Or at least I hope I didn't die and I'm just imagining all this. Turns out even after the body dies, the brain can still remain active for a few minutes."

Berry looked down at herself for a moment before sighing in relief. "It was… just a nightmare then… You're actually alive, you're alive, awake, standing, and talking!"

"That must have been some crazy nightmare than, but I can assure you, I am alive and well." Dust smiled at Berry. "And from what I've been told, it's thanks to you that I'm even talking with you at this very moment."

"I'm glad then… because it was my fault you ended up the way you did in the first place." Berry frowned, feeling guilty.

Dust also frowned. "You shouldn't blame yourself. I'm at fault to. Had I taken better care of my body, or haven't tried to do so many different activities, I've might have noticed sooner that something was wrong with my body. Instead I ended up overworking my body and causing you and others to worry about my well being."

"How are you feeling though? Do you still feel weak? How long will you be staying in the Medical Bay?" Berry asked, still concerned for her partner.

"I'm feeling a lot better than I used to. My body is pretty sore, but I believe that's from laying down for the past few days. As for how long I'll be staying here, that depends on Dr. Perfume. He says I still need to rest for my body to completely recover." Dust explained.

"Which is why you should be resting now," Dr. Perfume said as he joined Dust and the others in the waiting room. "I told you to return shortly after you met with Berry, but after a few minutes, I can see why you haven't returned yet. You need your rest, same goes for you Berry. Your body hasn't completely recovered from your recent mission, so you will be staying in the Medical Bay as well."

"Oh… could I stay with Dust then?" Berry requested. "I want to make sure he makes a full recovery as well."

Dr. Perfume nodded. "I had a feeling you would ask that. Don't worry, you can stay with Dust. Now come along you two, it's past midnight."

Dust and Berry followed Dr. Perfume, though Berry was still pretty slow, Dust couldn't help but notice that she seemed to have gotten faster while slithering on her own, likely from the level ups she gained during her mission to get the cure.

"Berry, you don't have to overwork yourself. I can carry you," Dust offered.

"Oh… I don't think you should. The last thing I want is for you to end up in danger again because of my slime." Berry frowned.

"While I appreciate your concern, I should be okay. It's only a little distance, and I'll make sure to wipe off the slime." Dust suggested. "Last thing I want is your body to suddenly collapse from over exhaustion. I promise you, it's not a fun experience."

"I know…" Berry sighed.

Before the worried Goomy could say anything else, Dust lowered his head and lifted Berry up, before having her slide onto his back. Berry blinked, surprised at Dust's insistence on carrying her.

"But you just got better, you shouldn't have to carry me, as well as all the items that I have in your bag," Berry protested even though Dust was already moving with her on his back.

"Well what better way to recover faster than getting the body moving. If it wasn't for Dr. Perfume, I would be out and about." Dust chuckled a bit. "You've done a lot for me already, the least I can do is carry you."

Berry still gave Dust a worried look, half of her expecting Dust's fur to suddenly turn a sickly gray and rot off like in her nightmare, but she didn't protest anymore as Dust headed into the room they'll be staying in the night together.

* * *

The next morning, thankfully Berry didn't have anymore nightmares, and Dust wasn't visited by Giratina again, the two of them woke up around the same time. They both lied in their own hospital bed, of course, since Berry was small, and she needed water to keep her healthy, she was lying in a small water bed, that was literally a small tank of water, mostly meant for Water types and Pokemon like her who needed the water on their bodies.

Berry gave a yawn before looking at Dust. "So… I'm guessing we're supposed to wait here until the doctor comes, check on us, and then deem us healthy enough to be discharged from the Medical Bay?"

"Seems most likely," Dust agreed. "Wouldn't want one of us to suddenly collapse to some unknown cause."

"I think I'm fine, my biggest problem was exhaustion and dehydration. After a good night's sleep, and in water no less, I should be perfectly fine. But what about you? You were the one at death's doors," Berry questioned, still in concern for her partner.

Dust chuckled at the question. "Funny how you mentioned that, had the craziest dream last night."

"Apparently so did I," Berry sighed, remembering her nightmare all too well.

Dust was about to share what he remembered, but recalled how much discomfort Berry was in her sleep last night in the waiting room. _Maybe mentioning my encounter with Giratina wouldn't be the best time right now._

"Well enough of dreams, I'm more interested about your little adventure. I've only been told that you were the one to retrieve the flower that cured me, but from how your body was yesterday, I'd say you went through a lot," Dust inquired.

"Yeah… I had to pretty far to get the Chrysalis Flower. I remembered that my parents used to feed it to their friends or their children's friends to cure them of poison. Although Wooper and Quagsire have more control over their slime output, sometimes they would secrete them when they're excited, and because their slime is so toxic, one little touch is sometimes enough to get the other Pokemon poisoned. I guess we're lucky my slime isn't so potent that it gets you poisoned every time we touched, but it was still enough to put you in danger after a while," Berry explained. "So… basically I went back to my home land, in Spring Swamp, to get a Chrysalis Flower."

"Wow, I guess it must've been lucky that the guild was close to your home land," Dust noted.

"It wasn't," Berry informed. "It would have taken me about 4 to 6 days to get there and back if I had taken the normal route."

Dust was confused at Berry's explanation. "But I was told that I only had 2 to 3 days left. How did you manage to get to your home land and return in time?"

"You only had HOW many days to live!?" Berry stared at Dust in shock.

"You… didn't know?" Dust hesitantly asked.

"I was… never told how long you had… I just knew you may not have had much time," Berry admitted. "... I'm really glad I decided to take the shortcut then… you would've been long dead by the time I came back."

"Yes, quite fortunate that you had taken a shortcut." Dust nodded while still thinking about Berry's exhausted body from last night. "Still, what kind of shortcut was it that it made you so exhausted?"

"There's a reason why not many Pokemon would take the shortcut to Spring Swamp," Berry sighed. "The shortcut is a pretty dangerous Mystery Dungeon. High level Pokemon live there, any Normal Rank Crusader like me would've been completely wiped out. But thank Mew I have these antennae of mine, I was able to sense the higher levelled Pokemon pretty easily and was able to avoid them. The dungeon was called the Waterfall Cavern, it was also pretty dark the further inside you get, with only the glow of the crystals and certain plants lighting the way. I will say that it's pretty mystical there, I'd like to show it to you someday. Anyways, despite my ability to sense Pokemon, I still got into a few fights, mostly from the lower levelled Pokemon, so I was able to handle them alright. But then… I ran into a pretty high levelled Seviper…"

Berry went on telling Dust about how she was chased by the Seviper, and how she met up with her oldest brother, Splash, in the dungeon, who was apparently trying to explore the Mystery Dungeon. They had quite the awkward reunion, and they both ran from the Seviper. However, the Goomy mentioned how they ran into a dead end, and started to battle the Seviper, until it was suddenly eaten alive by a huge Dragon type that Berry thought might be called a 'Goodra' since it was saying that all the time. Dust became more fascinated when he heard about the Goodra.

Berry talked about how she and Splash had a conversation about what happened in the past, and that she was responsible for his dried up state back then, the Goomy felt incredibly guilty when she found out, but the two of them continued on through the dungeon. Things were going well until they came to the second to last floor, where they saw the Goodra there, close to the stairs. The Goodra's antennae seemed to have worked similarly to Berry's, because she sensed them enough to wake up when they were trying to sneak by. The Goodra became angry and hostile, Berry guessed it was because they were passing through her nest. Berry shivered at how close she came to being obliterated by the Goodra's powerful Dragon type attack, if it weren't for Splash saving her at the last minute, she would've joined Dust in the afterlife. When Berry attacked the Goodra, the Goodra put her brother down, and started to speak in their language.

At this point, Dust interrupted. "Wait! Are you telling me that a wild Pokemon was able to somewhat communicate with you?!"

Berry actually looked more amused than annoyed at being interrupted, having anticipated Dust's reaction to the Goodra talking. "Yeah, I was pretty shocked myself when I heard her trying to speak in our language. Though it was pretty hard to make out what she was trying to say. From what I could gather, she might have lost her child at one point. I'm… not sure why that would stop her from attacking us, but I guess maybe she realized she was hurting a couple of children, and felt bad about it… not that I knew wild Pokemon were capable of feeling guilty… and just decided to let us go."

"I've never heard of anything like that before. Though there have been reports that some wild Pokemon might avoid Crusaders. Just like when my mother took me to a dungeon, most of the wild Pokemon avoided us due to our kind," Dust explained. "But to hear of one ceasing their attack but also capable of communication, this opens up so many possibilities."

"I mean don't some Crusaders take wild Pokemon with them in order to educate them?" Berry asked. "But then again, this is the first I've heard of a wild Pokemon talking in the wild. I wonder if a civilized Pokemon tried to teach her before, because there was no way a wild Pokemon could learn our language on their own."

"I would love to meet this, Goodra, correct? Yes, I have so many questions for this Goodra." Dust added, but then a thought came to mind. "I'm surprised the Guild Master allowed you to go through this dungeon in the first place."

"She… uh… didn't…" Berry hesitantly admitted. "I snuck out… Brody, the Lucario chef, helped me to sneak out. I also came in here to take your bag so I'd have something for the items."

Dust was shocked. Normally he would be the one to get in trouble, not Berry. "I'm sorry, I think I misheard you. For a second I thought you said you didn't get permission to go through the dungeon."

"I didn't," Berry confirmed. "The Guild Master didn't want me to go. She had Brody there to keep an eye on me, but I managed to convince him to help me sneak out. But I'd imagine Chihiro knows about me sneaking out by now… but I don't care about the punishment, I'd say it was worth it that I was able to save your life. Even if I got thrown into the air by a Marshtomp and landed in mud."

"You encountered a wild Marshtomp?" Dust asked, wondering how Berry managed to make it back to the guild.

"Oh, right, I haven't gotten to that point yet," Berry realized. "Well, after Splash and I got past the Goodra…"

Berry finished telling her story to Dust after her meeting with Quaker and how he helped her get the Chrysalis Flower, even though him throwing her wasn't part of the plan, and it got her extra muddy, she was glad to get the flower at least, before Quaker took her back to the Mystery Dungeon, where she used her badge to warp to the otherside in an instant to get back to the Carriage back to White Leaf Town.

"I managed to get Carrie to carry me into the Medical Bay, where I gave Dr. Perfume the Chrysalis Flower," Berry said. "After that, I pretty much collapsed in the waiting room chair you found me in."

"Amazing!" Dust exclaimed. He was shocked that someone would go through all that to find a flower and bring back a cure for him. He knew that Berry was a good friend, but now it dawned on him that Berry had risked so much just for him. "I've done some reckless things in my life time, lots of them were very close calls. But you risked so much for someone you've only known for a few weeks. You disobeyed our Guild Master, risked your life and well being, all to help me. Out of us two, I think you're the most craziest one. And I'm truly grateful for that. Thank you."

"Maybe some of your craziness rubbed off on me like how my goo rubbed off on you," Berry chuckled. "Besides, we're partners, we're supposed to look out for one another. It's as Chihiro said, those who would abandon their partner are worse than dirt."

"Wise words from our Guild Master," Dust agreed, then noticed that Berry was still wearing the red scarf. "By the way, did that scarf actually prove to be useful during your adventure? I'm still curious how these scarves have an affect on the wearer."

"Heh, yeah, it's what saved me from passing out after that Goodra hit me with her tail," Berry answered. "And let me tell you, that tail _hurt_. I don't even know if it was a move either. By the way, love how pretty you look wearing that pink scarf."

Dust blushed a bit at being called pretty. "Right, well Dr. Perfume said it would be best to keep in on to help with my recovery. Though I wish the colors were different, pink isn't exactly my favorite color."

"Maybe you could ask Carrie if you could dye it another color later," Berry suggested. "I also think you should keep it on if you want to give me more rides, it might keep you from getting poisoned by my slime again. But still… check in with Dr. Perfume after our next mission just to be safe."

"Noted." Dust agreed.

Suddenly, a familiar Dreepy flew into their room through the door. Phantom was looking frantic.

"Berry! H-hey, glad you're back, first of all, second, you might want to brace yourself!" Phantom quickly warned.

"W-why?" Berry asked nervously.

"Because-" Phantom started, but a familiar Dragapault phased into the room herself before she could finish. "... Grandma's here…"

Since being here, Dust has never really seen the Guild Master this upset before. It was very similar to how it felt to be near his mother when she was mad. _I can only imagine what it would be like if those two were in the same room together._

Berry stiffened, knowing that she was in trouble, and the Guild Master didn't look too happy.

"So it looks like we've all had been busy the last few days. Dust with your recovery, Berry and your disobedience, and my own granddaughter trying to keep the fact that you snuck out." Chihiro said while looking at each of them. "Dust, how are you feeling?

"Well physically, I'm doing much better than a few days ago, but until I get Dr. Perfume's permission, I have to stay here to fully recover," Dust explained.

Chihiro smiled at his response, glad that he was doing fine. But the smile faded as she turned to Berry. "And how are you feeling, Berry?"

"I'm fine, physically… emotionally, however, I'm pretty terrified," Berry admitted. _Wait, did she say that Phantom was trying to keep her from knowing I snuck out?_

Chihiro stared at Berry for a couple of seconds before sighing. "Glad to know that you're doing well, physically. When Dr. Perfume allows you two to leave, I want you to come to my office," Chihiro said, mostly to Berry.

Berry's antennae lowered. "Y-yes, ma'am."

Chihiro looked at Phantom, who gave a nervous look. "Phantom, you're coming with me now."

"Y-yes, Grandma…" Phantom nervously said before she looked at Berry. "Berry… um… good luck."

Phantom floated after Chihiro through the door.

"Well, I'm dead…" Berry groaned.

"Don't worry, you get used to it." Dust tried to reassure her, recalling all his times of getting in trouble.

"Wow… your craziness really _is_ rubbing off on me," Berry sighed.

"Heh, just...don't ever get in trouble with my mother." Dust nervously laughed. "If you think you were dead now, you'd wish you were never born if you faced my mother."

"Great," Berry sarcastically said. "Can't wait to meet your mother then, she sounds _lovely_."

Dust watched in slight amusement as Berry became as flat as a purple, gooey, pancake. Dust couldn't help but feel a little sorry for the Goomy, knowing all too well what she was going through.

* * *

**Reviews**

**InfernalzRush****: DarkFoxKit:** Author used update.

It was super effective!

Co-Author used pack.

Co-Author's stress went up!

Author used Happy Valentine's Day Chocolate.

Everyone's happiness went up!

We were able to get this chapter updated, but the next one is going to be a bit late. We do hope we'll be able to update again soon though. Heh, the Mudkip from CoM just kinda happened on a whim, I was into Naruto at the time, and I really liked Shikamaru. Ironically, Mudkip was my first playable Pokemon in the original Red and Blue Rescue team games. Apparently I fit a Mudkip. XP

Mega Feraligatr would probably just look more muscular with bright markings. I mean Mega Swampert and Mega Sharpedo aren't exactly… the most creative Megas out there. So I highly doubt a Mega Feraligatr would look that good. But I do hope GameFreak pleasantly surprises me.

**Onyx Bolt****: Travelling Master: **Thanks, I think Mystery Dungeon has helped a lot when it comes to writing Pokemon Fics. Not just for us but for all the other authors on fanfiction.

**DarkFoxKit:** Since Mystery Dungeon is heavily story focused and the fact you play as a Pokemon, it makes it easier to write for.

**Greatest Guy****: Travelling Master: **Dust be asking all the important questions.

**Dust: **You better believe it. No way am I missing an opportunity like this.

**DarkFoxKit:** Heh, you could say Berry was filled with determination~

**Jewel moonstone****: Travelling Master: **Yeah, that does sound like him. Get him rambling and he could go on for hours.

**The Moonfox Collective****: Travelling Master: **Yup, even Giratina wasn't prepared for him. And it has only been a month since he was kicked out of his old guild, so other questions that would've been good to ask really didn't come to mind. If this happened much later in the story, I'm sure Dust...actually he'd probably still ask the same questions, but also ask some other important ones too. Who knows? But yes, we do have something special planned for Dust and this...special gift Giratina left for him.

**DarkFoxKit:** Yes, yes Berry does. It's not fun to go into an area you are criminally under leveled for. If this were an actual game, you'd have to try your best to run away or use items to beat some of the wild Pokemon. Heh, Berry is a little bit of a pacifist, just a little. She doesn't like hurting anyone, though she also wants to get stronger so she could be a better Crusader. Now she has another goal in mind, another way to get stronger, and that is to make her power her own rather than just the outbursts. Berry did get reconciled a bit, but it'll be a different story if she have to face her whole family again.

**Frozen Gem****: DarkFoxKit:** Yup, Dust was Berry's first friend, and she also felt responsible for putting Dust in such a situation, so she was going to do everything she could to save him. As for the punishment… heh, let's just say we had some fun with that one.

**Travelling Master: **Oh geez...I know what you are talking about. I still can't believe we wrote something like that. But she's right, we had a lot of fun writing it and we look forward to when we can show it to you guys.

**Frost Wing05****: Travelling Master: **Heh, you're gonna just have to wait. Can't say when the next update will be, unfortunately, but like we said earlier, it will come in the future. Just have to be patient.

**Snow Star****: DarkFoxKit:** Yeah, Berry became quite attached to Dust due to him being her first friend, and the fact she felt responsible for poisoning him. Perhaps this might impact their relationship in the future? Heh, I guess we'll see.


	12. Chapter 12: Trouble with Focus

**DarkFoxKit:** Hooray! We're updating again!

**Travelling Master: **Yup, we are still trying to find the best schedule for both of us, but we managed to work something out.

**DarkFoxKit:** Oh, by the way, didn't you say you had something you wanted to tell the readers, Travelling Master?

**Travelling Master: **That's right, thanks for reminding me. So I'm planning on doing a Platinum Randomized Nuzlocke story, and one of our characters here is going to be the main one in the side story, won't say who but you will find out when the story comes out. Reason why I wanted to let you guys know is because I'm also planning to add a little trivia game to the story that will include prizes for those that participate. But don't worry, that story is not going to be my main focus, as I said before, this is going to be a side story I'm working on.

**DarkFoxKit:** I apologize about our update being late today, Traveling Master's job requires him to work around the morning to afternoon. So we're just now getting into the ANs ourselves. ^^' We'll try to work out a better schedule though. Anyways, if there's nothing to add, we will be getting into the chapter.

* * *

**Chapter 12: Trouble with Focus**

Berry found herself in the Guild Master's room. After Dr. Perfume deemed her healthy enough to leave the Medical Bay. Dust was still in the Medical Bay, Dr. Perfume wanted to do a thorough check up on him to make sure there were no more toxins in his body, and also to see if the Pecha Scarf would protect him from Berry's slime.

Berry had been a nervous wreck since she slithered into the Guild Master's room, however, when she did slither in, she saw a familiar Lucario already in there. Brody had been caught by the Guild Master for trying to cover for the Goomy.

"Berry," Brody greeted at seeing her come in. "You look as beautiful as ever. Glad to know that you made it back with the flower."

"Yeah… me too, but it looks like we're about to pay the consequences for it," Berry said nervously.

"Well, every choice does have its consequences. You chose to go on your own and I chose to help you. All we can do is prepare for the worst," Brody explained.

"Indeed, Brody's right, every choice has its consequences," Chihiro spoke up.

Berry noticed that Phantom was in one of Chihiro's horn holes, and her brother, Spooks, was floating beside Chihiro. Berry had to wonder if Phantom being in one of Chihiro's horn holes was a punishment for her.

"Brody, normally when I have to speak with you it's with your teammates, since you three have a knack for causing a mess. Usually you're the one who tends to hold them back, so imagine my surprise when I found out that one of my Crusaders not only disobeyed my orders to keep Berry here, but also assisted her in sneaking out as well," Chihiro scolded, causing Brody to flinch a bit.

"I know what I've done and I have no regrets. What kind of mon would I be if I turned down a fair maiden's request for aid." Brody poetically said.

"The kind who would've kept the fair maiden safe. What would have happened if she hadn't returned at all? That Mystery Dungeon was forbidden for her to go for a reason! She is only a Normal Rank, her partner was in intensive care, and not to mention the reports of a dangerous Dragon type being there. She could've easily been killed on this mission!" Chihiro snapped.

Berry flinched a little, she had never seen the Guild Master this angry before. _But… she isn't wrong… that Goodra could've easily destroyed me back there if she didn't stop at the last minute._

"Then only punish me," Brody suggested. "Berry only wanted to help her partner. She wouldn't have gotten out in the first place if I hadn't disobeyed your orders."

Before Chihiro could say more, Berry spoke up. "I'm sorry! It's my fault Brody helped me snuck out, don't be too hard on him. I would've tried to sneak out with or without his help anyways. I understand that going to Waterfall Cavern was dangerous and foolish, but I couldn't just sit by and wait, Dust would've died if I hadn't gone! Yes, I did disobey your orders, Guild Master, but didn't you once told me that those who would abandon their partner was worse than dirt? Wouldn't that include those who follow the rules over helping their partner when they need them?"

Chihiro sighed as she turned away from Berry and Brody, showing her back to them. She thought for awhile, giving the room a moment of silence before speaking up again. "I can't deny that Dust's condition wouldn't have been better if you had stayed. If it wasn't for the flower, Dust might not have… made it. When I first saw him his soul was very… His soul was struggling. Dr. Perfume has informed me that ever since you've returned with the flower, his recovery has been improving. So for that, you two have my gratitude."

Berry and Brody started to relax from that.

"However!" Chihiro suddenly spoke up, catching the two off guard. "That doesn't change the fact that you both broke the rules, and put one of my Crusaders in danger. Considering the circumstances, I'm willing to lighten up on the punishment, but you do still have to be punished, both of you."

Berry frowned, she didn't like being punished, but even though she did save Dust's life, she did break the rules to do it and put herself in danger, so she couldn't argue with that. _It's still weird to have someone other than my mom to care that I put myself in danger though._ "What… would the punishment be… Guild Master?"

Chihiro's mood seemed to soften as she gave them a small smile. "Well, as you know, being Guild Master means having many responsibilities. Many of those involves tasks that require most of my attention. Before, I would normally let my grandchildren wait outside my office or explore on their own if they choose to, but now that privilege has been taken from Phantom. So that puts me in quite the pickle, while I would have her stay in my horn as part of her punishment, there are times when my job requires some privacy. So for the following week, you two will be babysitting my grandchildren, along with Carrie's child after you finish a mission."

Brody and Berry looked surprised, that was more of an extra work than a punishment. But Berry decided not to look a gift Ponyta in the mouth, knowing the punishment could have been so much worse.

"Babysitting, huh?" Brody remarked. "Yeah, I think the fair lady and I can handle that, right, Berry?"

Berry looked at Brody. "Sure… I guess." _I've never had to babysit before though… I'm not sure how to take care of children properly. Hopefully Chihiro would provide a list or instructions for us..._

Berry and Brody were somewhat glad after hearing their punishment, but neither of them noticed that Chihiro was grinning at them, finding amusement thinking about what's in store for them.

* * *

Dust was relieved to be discharged from the Medical Bay, it hadn't been his first time being in a guild's Medical Bay before, but it was never a very pleasant experience, especially since it cuts into his research time. Of course, Dr. Perfume did tell Dust that if he wanted to keep carrying his partner around, he would need to keep the Pecha Scarf on, the Pecha Scarf would kill off any toxins that would try to invade his body, so he would be safe from being poisoned again.

"While pink may not be my favorite color, it beats getting poisoned again," Dust said out loud to himself.

After leaving the Medical Bay, Dust met up with Berry in the cafeteria, deciding to eat dinner together. Berry told Dust about the punishment she recieved from Chihiro, how she and Brody would have to babysit Phantom, Spooks, and Chloe for the week starting tomorrow after every mission.

"Something just tells me that this babysitting job is going to be… really difficult." Berry frowned. "I've never had to babysit before."

"I wish I could offer some form of advice, but I have no knowledge or experience when it comes to babysitting," Dust added. "At least you'll have Brody with you. And I can help too, it's the least I can do after everything you've done. Plus, I think it would be a perfect opportunity to perform some tests. I've always wondered how children would react differently to others much older than them."

Berry swallowed a blue Gummi before shaking her head. "No, I think you should continue doing your research while Brody and I handle the babysitting. This is supposed to be _my_ punishment, not yours."

"Are you sure?" Dust asked.

"Yeah. Don't worry, Chihiro did say we could ask Carrie for help if we really need to," Berry reassured.

"Well if you insist. But don't hesitate to ask for my assistance if you ever need it," Dust replied.

"Thanks," Berry said gratefully. _Really rather you didn't perform tests on children, I think Chihiro and Carrie would kill you for real if you did._

After dinner, Dust carried Berry back to their room. Though Berry was still apprehensive about Dust carrying her, he assured her that as long as he has the Pecha Scarf on, he'll be fine.

* * *

Dust sat by the wooden table with a lamp beside him. It was rather late, but Dust couldn't sleep. Berry had already fallen asleep on her hay bed. The Absol looked down at the dark blue book that he was writing in with a pen in his mouth. He had written down all that he remembered from his encounter with Giratina.

_Normally, I would've passed it off as a dream, but considering that I had a very close call with death, I can't help but think it might have been something else. _He thought long and hard about what Giratina said, every word etched into his brain. What was on his mind the most was the last two things Giratina had said to him. His warning of what would happen if he were to be on death's door again, and then his supposed gift that he would've obtained.

"What gift could he be talking about…?" Dust silently said to himself. "To think this all happened because I almost died."

As he said that, a new thought occurred to him. _I almost died. _He hadn't thought on it too much before, but now that he fully recovered and was in his room once more, the realization hit him pretty hard. There were so many things that would've been left undone had he not make it. While he was sure the news of his death would've shocked others, he was sure many of them would not have given it a second thought. Well, except for his partner and mother.

He turned towards Berry, still amazed that she went through such a difficult task for him. He was truly grateful for what she did, but also regretful, if he'd been more attentive to his body, he could've prevented all this from happening in the first place. He also realized what it meant to have a real partner who cared about him, and it made him briefly think back on all the partners he chased away with his testings and attitude towards them, seeing them as nothing more than test subjects.

He sighed as he looked back at his journal, trying to take his mind off the past. But even as he tried forgetting his old guild, he remembered the secret mission that Grace had given him before he had left. _Has it really been almost three weeks since I left?_

Dust started to feel impatient again, along with slight frustration with himself. He knew that gaining Gold Rank wouldn't be easy, especially in a year. And after that sparring match with Team Crimson Raiders, he felt even more determined to better himself, and yet because of his negligence, his life was almost cut short.

He looked at the sleeping Goomy and started to calm down a bit. _Maybe Berry babysitting would be good. I can't exactly go on missions by myself, so I have more time to do some more research and train. But more importantly, it would give me a chance to do my secret mission and find what Grace is after._

Exhaustion was coming over Dust's body and mind. He still wanted to go over his notes, but figured the sooner he fell asleep, the sooner he could start his day tomorrow. His mind was still uneased, but he decided to give in to slumber for the night.

* * *

Then next morning, Dust and Berry went to the cafeteria to eat breakfast, they were discussing their plans for the day.

"So we could probably take on a mission today, and after that, I have to babysit the Guild Master's grandchildren, and possibly Chloe," Berry said.

"Great," Dust excitedly agreed. "I've been wanting to go on a mission for some time. What with me having to recover, it'll feel good to finally get out."

"Heh, I'll bet. You're absolutely, 100 percent sure that Pecha Scarf you're wearing will keep you from getting poisoned again?" The Goomy asked, still concerned about riding on Dust again.

"Can a Charmander survive if it's tail gets soaked with water?" Dusk asked.

"Uh…" Berry hesitated. "I don't know actually."

"The answer is yes," Dust explained. "Though I highly recommend not testing it. Trust me, that is one good way to get your fur burned off."

"You tested it before, didn't you?" Berry deadpanned.

"I wouldn't exactly say tested it, it was more of an accident. Though I did take the opportunity to take notes afterwards." Dust chuckled at the memory.

The Goomy rolled her eyes. "Well, it makes sense, I mean if the Charmander line's tail flame went out because it got wet, they would've gone extinct by now."

"Hey! You're out of the Medical Bay!" A familiar voice cheered.

Dust turned to see Talon heading towards them, with Tippi on his back. He was surprised to see them, the last time Dust had saw them was on the day of their sparring match with Team Crimson.

Talon landed beside them. "Tippi and I were worried about you after we found you passed out in the hallway."

"Yeah… we thought you might be really sick or something…" Tippi quietly added, crawling off of the Starly's back.

"Well worry no more," Dust assured them. "I was sick, but I'm doing much better now."

"I'm glad he isn't sick anymore myself," Berry said softly.

"It's actually pretty crazy too," Dust added. "You see I was this close to-"

"Hey!" Another voice interrupted, getting Dust's attention.

Dust was a bit surprised to see a Rockruff approaching them, wagging its fluffy tail.

"You're okay! When I've heard that you got sent to the Medical Bay, I was all worried and stuff, but then I heard you recovered, so I was happy and stuff! And now I finally get to meet you, the Absol of Team Night Tide! And also the cute little tough… um… Pokemon who's with you!" Rockruff said excitedly in a femine voice.

Dust was slightly taken aback by this Rockruff. "Um… thank you? I'm sorry, have we met before?"

"Just call me Berry," Berry said, holding a cup of berry juice with her antenna.

"Right! My name is Roxy Rockruff, and I watched your dojo spar back at the dojo a week back," The Rockruff introduced. "It was pretty inspiring, my team and I wanted to meet you two, but we were a bit nervous to. Well, I was excited, but my teammates can be a bit shy."

"We are not! Don't put words in our mouths, Roxy," A Purrloin grumbled as he came up beside Roxy. "Hello, my name is Caper, and Roxy here can get a little carried away when meeting new Pokemon."

"And I'm Cobra," A new voice came from behind Dust and Berry. When they turned to see who it was, they were shocked to see it belonged to a male Seviper.

Berry jumped at seeing the Seviper and quickly slithered under Dust.

"Sorry for interrupting your breakfast, I did tell Roxy to at least let you two finish first before coming over, but she just couldn't wait," Cobra said with a tired voice. "Since she already introduced herself, we thought we might as well introduce ourselves."

"Team Toxic Stars," Talon acknowledged.

"Team Silkwing," Cobra greeted back.

"You may not believe it, but these three are a little bit of an exception," Talon explained to Dust and Berry. "They're still a Normal Rank, but they have three members instead of two. Most Normal Ranks would only have a team of two, since the Guild Master usually pair up two Pokemon at the start. Getting a new team member is hard when you're only at Normal Rank."

"Helps that we've known each other before becoming guild members," Caper added. "We were worried at first that we might be put in other teams, but luckily for us the Guild Master allowed us to stick together."

"Well… it's nice to meet all of you," Dust greeted Team Toxic Stars.

"So what was it?" Roxy asked.

"What was what?" Dust returned the question.

"What was it that caused you to end up in the Medical Bay for almost three days? It must have been something pretty strong if it caused an Absol to get sick." Roxy asked.

Berry frowned as she calmed down enough to slither out from under Dust, realizing this was a different Seviper from the wild one that chased her and got eaten.

"It was… toxins that were slowly poisoning him… neither of us noticed until it got dangerous…" Berry softly answered.

"Woah," Both Roxy and Caper said at the same time while Cobra had a surprised look.

"And how did that happen?" Caper asked.

"Well that was from…" Dust thought for a second before coming up with a lie. "One of the dungeons we've done. It was in a forest like area, filled with grass and poison like Pokemon. Turns out, that's where the toxins came from."

The Goomy was surprised that Dust decided to lie to cover for her.

"You mean you didn't notice you got poisoned from these Grass and Poison type Pokemon?" Cobra questioned. "That seems highly unlikely."

"Normally yes, but there are certain Pokemon that can spread toxins without one knowing. One such Pokemon is the Shroomish. Depending on how much spores they release, as well as how close of proximity one is to these spores will determine the strength of the toxins themselves," Dust explained. "It actually happened to me a few weeks ago, though luckily the Shroomish I encountered only knew Stun Spore. I was right next to it when it released it, causing my entire body to be paralyzed, but my Mother, who was with me, managed to get away, though parts of her leg did get numb."

"That sounded like a numbing experience," Caper chuckled.

"Well, regardless of what happened, I'm just glad you're better now," Talon chimed in.

"Me too," The Caterpie added quietly.

"Hey, if you ever need help on a mission, don't be shy to call us for help. We love helping Pokemon, don't we guys?" Roxy smiled, wagging her tail.

"Don't get too ahead of yourself, Roxy," Cobra sighed. "But we will help if you need it."

"Can teams help out other teams?" Berry questioned.

"Actually they can, depending on the mission itself," Dust answered. "Sometimes there might be missions that take place within the same Dungeon, so there exactly isn't any rules forbidding teams to work with one another, especially if their missions are the same rank. Other times missions might require more numbers, but those are usually only for special missions. Like escorting an important Pokemon or item. Or going after a dangerous outlaw."

"We can also volunteer to help out if you ask and we're not doing our own mission," Talon added.

"Oh… well… that would've been nice to know… before…" Berry grumbled.

"Alright, I think we've taken enough of their time, let's leave them so that they can at least finish their breakfast," Cobra said to his teammates before looking back at Dust and Berry. "It was nice meeting you two."

"It was nice meeting you all too," Berry said.

"Likewise," Dust added.

While Cobra and Roxy were walking away, and Caper trailing behind them, Roxy was excitedly telling Cobra what mission they should take today.

Dust bit down on his food, only to bite down on air. "What the?" Dust looked down to see that his food was gone.

Berry blinked, and Dust looked around for his food before he heard the Purrloin laughing. The Absol turned his attention to Caper, who was holding Dust's half eaten egg sandwich.

"You really should be a little more attentive, you never know when someone might try to steal something from you, that's especially true for wild Pokemon in the dungeon," Caper said.

Caper was still laughing, not noticing that Seviper was right behind him, his tail raised high. With the blunt end of his tail, Cobra smacked the backside of Caper's head. "Good advice, now return his food."

"Ow… jeez, Cobra, I was going to give it back anyways, you didn't have to smack me," Caper grumbled, rubbing the back of his head before he went over to Dust, and put his egg sandwich back on his plate. "Just remember what I said, okay? Guard your belongings, especially around Nickit, they're the worst when it comes to being little thieves."

Dust found the advice a little strange, but nevertheless he thanked the Purrloin. Caper soon went back to where his team was, leaving Dust and Berry with Team Silkwing.

"Well they are an…" Dust thought of an appropriate word for Team Toxic Stars. "Interesting bunch, to say the least."

"They're not the only ones… wait until you see them with another certain team, things will get really… interesting then," Talon chuckled.

"They get kinda… scary when they meet up with them…" Tippi shivered.

"Yeah, then there's Team Destruct. You've already met one of the members, Brody," Talon added. "They're called that for a reason."

"Sounds like there's a lot of interesting teams in this guild," Dust noted.

"No kidding… I wonder who these other members of Team Destruct are…" Berry wondered.

* * *

After finishing breakfast, and leaving Team Silkwing to their own breakfast, Dust and Berry were looking at the job request bulletin board. Berry was back on Dust's back as the Absol began looking through the Ranked E jobs.

"You know, I just realized I never did ask Chihiro about how to rank up," Dust remembered. "I was actually on my way to her office until I ended up passing out. Maybe after you finish with your babysitting this week, we can ask her."

"Oh, yeah, we should." Berry nodded in agreement.

Dust then took a piece of paper with his claws, deciding this would be a good mission to do, the reward was nice, and it was in a familiar-ish dungeon. It was to retrieve a Water Stone that was lost in the Dusk Forest, their client was a Leafeon.

"This one seems good," Dust showed the mission to Berry. "Simple retrieval mission."

"Heh… what are the odds that our client is a Grass type again?" Berry sighed. "Well, it looks like an easy enough mission."

"And who knows, maybe we'll run into those wolf-like Pokemon again," Dust added. "I actually have a few questions I wanted to ask them if we ever got the chance to see them again."

"I'm not sure if I want to see them again, sure they helped us, but they were… really scary…" Berry shivered.

"Not as scary as who I'm about to talk to next," Dust sighed, going over to the reception desk, seeing good old Miyagi there, staring at him. He gulped as he handed the mission paper over to the Psychic Pokemon.

"..." Miyagi stared at Dust for a few seconds before looking at the paper. After a bit, he stamped the paper and handed it back to Dust. But after he did, he turned his attention towards Berry, who stiffened at the Meowstic's gaze.

Berry wasn't sure if she should say something, but Miyagi was making her even more nervous, so much so more of her goo was leaking onto Dust's back. Berry was about ask Dust if they could leave when suddenly she heard a voice in her head.

_Next time, try not to sneak out. _Berry was shocked to hear the voice in her heard, she thought she heard it from someone but the only ones there were Dust and Miyagi, who was still staring at her.

"Berry?" Dust asked, noticing the extra slime over his body. "Everything alright?"

"Go," Miyagi said out loud.

"Y-yes… please, l-let's go," Berry begged.

Dust looked at Berry and Miyagi, confused on what was going on, but then he looked into Miyagi's eyes and a chill went up his spine. Without wasting another second he quickly exited out the guild, leaving the Meowstic who still watched them as they left.

"Well, look who it is," A familiar spoke up when the two of them were outside.

Sunny and Twilight were looking at Dust and Berry.

"It seems we can't get enough of each other," Twilight chuckled.

Sunny just sighed. "Where are we going now?"

Dust smiled before handing them the paper.

"Going back to Dusk Forest, huh?" Twilight remarked. "Alright, get into the Carriage and we'll take you there."

* * *

**Dusk Forest 1F**

Dust was walking through the dungeon with the Goomy on his back. It felt like it had been a long time since they came to Dusk Forest. They took a minute to take in their surroundings, recalling all the memories they had of this place. Dust had a lot of mixed feelings, most of them had to do with the mistakes he made here, while others were still curious about their last encounter with the mysterious Pokemon. While he would've loved to meet with them again, something told him that it would be very unlikely for it to happen again.

"Dusk Forest," Dust said aloud. "It's been awhile."

"Yeah… and yet nothing is familiar," Berry noted.

Indeed, the entire area was completely different from their last visit. It proved that Mystery Dungeons were always changing, or perhaps it erases a Pokemon's memory of the dungeon layout itself. There were so many things about Mystery Dungeons that Dust wanted to ask, yet nobody had the answers to. They were called Mystery Dungeons for a reason after all.

As Dust was walking, however, Berry decided to ask him a question. "So… about what happened back at the cafeteria… why did you lie and tell them a wild Pokemon poisoned you?"

Dust didn't answer immediately, instead thinking about his reasons until he finally spoke up. "Well, you've been through a lot lately, telling others that it was your slime that caused my sickness would've just drawn more unwanted attention to you. I remember how troubled you were after your sparring match with Blizza. I just assumed it would be best if everyone thought it was a wild Pokemon that poisoned me instead of you."

Berry couldn't help but give a smile. "Thanks, Dust… that was sweet of you."

Dust returned the smile. "Just thinking of my partner, that's all."

Before Berry could reply to that, something suddenly tackled her off of Dust. Berry gave a surprised yelp at being knocked off of the Absol so suddenly. She had been tackled by a wild Taillow. The Taillow let out a loud tweet.

"Berry!" Dust shouted.

Dust was about to check on Berry when he heard the Taillow let out another tweet as it started flying towards him. Dust jumped to the side, dodging the attack while at the same time being a little proud.

"Sorry, but it's not going to be like last time. We're not the same Absol and…" Dust paused for a sec, looking back at Berry, who was still recovering from the unexpected Tackle attack. He knew that she was a Goomy, but also knew what she thought about that term. After a few seconds he came up with a new idea. "And Woomy from last time!"

When Dust looked at the Taillow, however, it was already at his face, and slapped him with its wing, using Wing Attack.

He shook his head, quickly recovering from the attack. "Ouch. Right, forgot. You're a wild Pokemon, not a civilized one. Sorry, been awhile since I've been in a dungeon."

"TAILLOW!" The Taillow shouted angrily.

"Dust, focus!" Berry shouted. "And… what did you call me?"

Before Dust could answer, the Taillow zipped around both of them, using Quick Attack, hitting them both in the head.

Berry shook her head to recover, and took a deep breath, about to use something, but then changed it at the last second, but because of the sudden change, what came out was a weird purple-ish weak Water Gun that missed the Taillow completely. Dust was caught off guard after seeing the purple water, unfortunately that just gave Taillow another chance to use quick attack again, this time hitting Dust right on his forehead. It was a critical hit.

What happened next Dust was completely unsure of. In a brief moment his vision went dark until he suddenly saw himself with Berry behind him. The Taillow was still circling around them, but then he saw the bird Pokemon go straight for the back of his head. As soon as he saw that, his vision returned, seeing that the Taillow was still zipping around them.

Suddenly the Taillow disappeared in a flash. Dust recalled what he saw earlier, and without realizing it, reacted by turning behind him while firing an Ice Beam. To both his and the Taillow's surprise, the bird Pokemon got hit with the beam of ice, freezing it completely, unfortunately, Dust may have fired his Ice Beam a bit too strongly. The Goomy was behind him when he fired the Ice Beam, and some of it trailed away from the now frozen Taillow, and was going toward Berry. Berry only had time to let out a shocked gasp before the stray Ice Beam hit her. It wasn't enough to freeze her, but it still did quite a bit of damage due to it being super effective.

Dust ceased his attack in horror after seeing parts of it hit Berry. "Berry! Are you okay?! I don't know what happened, my body just moved on its own! I didn't mean to hit you!"

Berry was shivering, her body vulnerable to the cold. "C-c-c-c-cold!"

Dust noticed that Berry's slime was hardened and frigid, and her body was looking a little bit blue.

_Think Dust, remember what Dr. Perfume taught you about what to do in freezing scenarios. Always keep Aspear Berries with you. _Dust checked his bag and was disappointed that all they had were some Oran Berries, and a few apples.

_Okay, no Aspear Berries, what else did he say? _Dust thought hard, his mind racing until he finally remembered what else he needed to do. _That's right, if no berries were nearby, find some form of heat._

Dust thought fast, he didn't know any fire type moves and he didn't have the tools to make a fire. He then finally noticed his fur. "May not be the best heat source, but it'll have to do."

The Absol reached out his paws to the shivering Goomy, and brought her close to his furry chest. Berry started to blush, feeling awkward, but also warm.

The two of them remained silent for a little while, until Berry recovered enough to speak without shivering. "That Taillow… gave us a much harder time than it should've… I didn't even sense it coming."

At hearing Berry's voice, Dust sighed in relief. He went for his bag and grabbed an Oran Berry, holding up to Berry. "Here, eat first, talk later."

"Thanks," Berry said gratefully, before she took the Oran Berry with her antenna, then popped it into her mouth.

While Berry was eating, Dust felt something a little foreboding. He looked around, before seeing Venipede, not just one, but three of them, approaching the two. Dust recognized the Venipede that was moving ahead of the other two, it was the same Venipede that attacked them on their first visit to the Dusk Forest.

"Looks like we got company!" Dust shouted to Berry while bracing himself for the three Venipede. "Will you be okay?"

"Y-yeah, I'll be fine," The Goomy assured, turning to the three Venipede, looking troubled. "I must be out of it, I didn't sense them either…"

The first Venipede curled into a ball and started to roll towards them. Berry and Dust jumped out of its way, only for another Venipede to jump at Dust and used Bug Bite, eating up one of his valuable Oran Berries.

"Hey!" Dust shouted while wincing in pain before the Venipede let go of him.

He quickly charged another Ice Beam, aiming at the Venipede that just hit him. But just as he was about to launch his attack, a sharp pain erupted from inside his head, causing him to flinch and miss the Venipede entirely. He quickly stopped the attack and pressed against his head with his paw, trying to numb the sudden headache.

The third Venipede shot out poisonous needles at Dust, which didn't do much to him thankfully, and his Pecha Scarf protected him from being poisoned.

The first Venipede was rolling around, trying to hit the weakened Absol. Berry jumped in between Dust and the incoming Venipede, and tried to fire another attack of her own, but it was still a weak Water Gun, not enough to stop the Venipede. The Venipede ended up using Rollout on Berry, knocking her back a few feet.

All three Venipede took this chance to roll towards Berry, but just as there are only a few feet from attacking her, Dust jumped in front of her, using Protect. All three Venipede bounced back after hitting the dome-like shield, giving Dust and Berry a moment breather.

"This… isn't working," Dust said between his breaths. _What's going on? They shouldn't be this strong. I know we've gotten much stronger since last time. Did we accidentally eat a Doom Seed? And why do I suddenly have this headache?!_

"Dust! Look out!" Berry suddenly warned.

With the barrier gone, one of the Venipede boldly charged in for an attack. The Goomy quickly jumped at the Venipede, hitting it back with her own Tackle attack. Berry hissed a little as that hurt her head. "Dust… we should probably run."

Dust nodded, lowering his body for Berry to get on quickly. After she hopped on his back, Dust fired an Ice Beam horizontally in front of the Venipede, causing them to briefly stop. Taking advantage of their pause, Dust turned around, running away with Berry on his back. After running for a few minutes, he was sure that the three Venipede would be right behind him, but to his relief, there was no sign of them.

"I think we've lost them," Dust said as he continued running, just in case if the wild Pokemon suddenly showed up.

"Look, there's a small den over there, we could probably take refuge in it from wild Pokemon until we recover our strength," Berry pointed out with her antenna.

Dust looked to where Berry pointed and started heading towards the den. True to her words, the den was small, but not too small where Dust and Berry couldn't fit in. Once inside, Dust fell on the ground from exhaustion, with Berry hopping off, her body slightly flattened itself, and she was still a little cold from the Ice Beam attack earlier.

"I didn't expect the wild Pokemon to suddenly be so hard to beat…" Berry commented while they were resting. "I didn't think they were this hard when we first came in here… well… I was mostly hiding myself after you… uh… went on ahead."

Dust checked inside his bag, seeing only two Oran Berries left. "Here," He handed one over to Berry as he started biting into the other one. "They shouldn't be this strong. When I… left you behind last time, I ran into quite a few wild Pokemon, and all it took was a quick blast from Ice Beam to take them down. I don't know why that Taillow or the three Venipede were that strong."

"Here… I don't need another Oran Berry, I just need a moment to recover from the battle," Berry said, nudging the Oran Berry back to Dust. "Save our last Oran Berry in case one of us really needs it."

Dust nodded, grabbing the berry and putting it back in the bag. He winced, feeling the pain in his head again. He pressed against his temples, breathing deeply as he dealt with the headache.

"Are you okay?" Berry asked in concern.

"Just a headache," Dust replied. "Though the only thing that concerns me about it is where'd it came from. It just happened out of nowhere. How about you? I noticed your Water Gun attack was purple and… weaker than usual. Unless that was some sort of poison type attack you just learned."

Berry shook her head. "I just… messed up my Water Gun attack. I… I've been hesitant on using my strongest move."

"You've been hesitant?" Dust asked while repeating what she said. "Why? What's wrong?"

"I'm afraid of hurting someone again, like _really_ hurt them instead of just knocking them out. What if I suddenly have another outburst of power? What if I become more like a wild monster? What if I turn out to be like that Dragon who ate that Seviper and almost killed me and Splash?" Berry shivered, but not from the cold this time.

Dust looked at Berry, recalling her tale of Waterfall Cavern, of her dangerous encounters with the wild Pokemon. "Well first off, it's good that you show concern over having another outburst. But I hardly think you'll end up like a monster. Granted, you may share some similar attributes to that Dragon Pokemon, but that shouldn't cause you to end up like it."

Berry hesitated for a moment, looking at her antennae. Dust wondered what Berry was thinking about.

Berry then shook her head. "I… think I know why we're having such a hard time with the wild Pokemon. It's not that they're more powerful or higher levelled, it's just we're… not exactly… focused or in sync. I've been holding back, and you're having trouble focusing."

Dust thought about what she said and agreeing with it. "Makes sense. It's been a while since we've been on a mission, plus the whole ordeal that we both went through… What's on your mind, Berry? You know I'm always willing to listen."

The Goomy hesitated for a moment. "Um… what was it that you called me back there? A… Woomy?"

Dust chuckled a bit. "Sorry about that, it was a spur of the moment. I know you are uncomfortable with being called a Goomy, but then I thought about your family of Wooper and, well, the name Woomy popped in my head. I find it both witty and clever."

"That's both funny and stupid," Berry commented. "A Woomy sounds like something you say to a baby."

"Well I wouldn't exactly know, I hardly ever socialized with infants," Dust countered.

"... Yeah, I can see why…" Berry remarked, remembering Dust's comments about wanting to experiment on how a baby Pokemon worked.

"Still, does the name bother you? Like I said, it was just a spur of the moment," Dust asked.

"It was a bit weird," Berry admitted. "But... uh…"

Dust noticed Berry's hesitation about something. He then realized the whole 'Woomy' comment wasn't what was actually going on in her mind. "Berry, is there anything else that you would like to share?"

"... A… Goomy isn't… another term for a deformed Wooper, is it…" Berry softly said.

"...No...it isn't," Dust answered. Before, he would've been excited if Berry was coming to terms with what she truly is, but Dust only felt uneasiness coming from Berry. "But that doesn't change the fact of who you are, right? You're Berry, who was raised by a family of Wooper and Quagsire, who decided on her own to become a Crusader. Who decided to stick with a partner who abandoned her before, who cares about others and is willing to risk her own safety for them.. You have this hidden potential, this inner strength, while it may cause you fear, nonetheless it's yours…"

"It may not change who I am, but…" Berry frowned. "It makes me realize how little I knew about myself…"

Dust was trying to think of the words to say.

"What… about you?" Berry asked. "You know you're an Absol, but… do you know who you are? What you want to do?"

Dust thought long about that question. _What is it I want to do? _

His mind thought of many things, from the simple activities of learning from Dr. Perfume or spending time in the Research Lab, to physically training so that his body can handle more missions. He thought about his old guild, how part of him missed his old life, the perks of being alone is that the only one you have to worry about is yourself. He wanted to gain Gold Rank as soon as possible, and wanted to find the item that Grace asked for. All these different things he knew he wanted, but when it came down to it, he honestly didn't know why.

After a while of silence, Berry spoke up again. "If you can't answer that, then at least I know I'm not alone."

Berry moved her antennae around a little. "I don't sense any wild Pokemon nearby, we could probably make it to the next floor if we move quickly."

Dust was glad for the suggestion, as well as the headache no longer giving him pain. "Agreed. Helps that my headache is gone now. Let's get going."

Berry hopped on Dust's back and the two left the den. But just as they did, Dust stopped for a moment, turning to face Berry.

"Berry, we might be having trouble focusing for now, but…" Dust said before giving Berry a friendly smile. "It's like you said, no team start out perfect, right?"

Berry gave a small smile at that. "Then let's work hard to make our team as perfect as possible."

* * *

**Dusk Forest 2F**

Dust kept moving when they entered the next floor of Dusk Forest. Berry was able to better focus to tell Dust where to go where there aren't any wild Pokemon. They couldn't handle wild Pokemon as they were at the moment.

"You know… if there's something you want to say, Dust, now might be a good time to say it. It might help to get things off your chest so you can focus better," Berry spoke up after a while of silence.

Many things were going through his mind, most of them he either didn't really want to share, or didn't know how. Honestly, the number one thing on his mind was his experience he had with Giratina. Normally he wouldn't hesitate to share such an encounter with Berry, or anyone for the matter, but everytime he thought about sharing it, he quickly would grow hesitant. Even now, he wanted to tell Berry but as he thought about it, his mind grew uneased, so instead of telling her what exactly transpired, Dust decided to share some of it, just to get it off his mind.

"Actually, now that you mentioned, there has been something on my mind for a while," Dust spoke up. "I mentioned before about a strange dream I had while I was unconscious. I would've shared it back then, but you did just had a nightmare, and I felt it would've worsen the mood."

"What was it?" The Goomy curiously asked.

"Well…" Dust started off.

He recounted when he had woken up in an empty dark space. He told Berry of how his mother was there, and how she was keeping him company during his time there. Dust decided to leave out the part where his mother was Death, which later turned out to be Giratina. He felt even that kind of information would've been too much for anyone, he's still trying to process the whole encounter himself.

"As my mother stayed with me, I couldn't help but get the feeling that… I wouldn't be waking up. I tried to stay positive, but I couldn't help but feel some sort of dread with each passing minute I was there," Dust shuddered, fully remembering that feeling when Giratina told him his time was running out. "Suddenly something caught my mother's attention, and shortly after that everything went dark. Next thing I knew I was in the Medical Bay. Since then, my mind has been always returning to that dream. I can't help but be fascinated by it… but at the same time, I also feel… scared. Though what I'm scared of, I can't seem to figure out."

As Dust was saying this, he was passing by under a big tree.

"That… does sound pretty scary… I was told that you were dangerously close to death." Berry frowned. "I'm glad I was able to bring the Chrysalis Flower to save you, but… I'm worried of how this affected you. I mean… I-"

Berry suddenly stiffened. "Move!"

A string of sticky substance suddenly shot from the tree, which wrapped around Dust's back leg.

A tingling sensation went through Dust's entire body as he tried to shake the sticky substance off his leg, but it refused to move. "This is most uncomfortable."

Berry looked down at the white string that wrapped itself around Dust's back leg, before she looked up and paled, she saw a group of Sewaddle crawling down from the big tree, all of them looking hostile. One of the Sewaddle had the sticky string sticking out of their mouth, indicating it was the one that fired the String Shot at Dust. Dust was still turned around, so he didn't notice the group of Sewaddle crawling towards them, but he did feel Berry shaking.

"Berry, what's wrong? Do you see who shot out this sticky substance?" Dust asked, still trying to free his leg.

"S-S-S-Sewaddle!" Berry shouted. "There's a lot of them!"

Suddenly, two Sewaddle jumped from the tree and landed on Dust. They started to bite down on Dust's back, the way they were biting with small nibbles, however, indicating they were using Bug Bite. The sudden pain from the attack sent a jolt through Dust's body, causing him to jump forward. Luckily it was enough for his foot to at least break free from some of the sticky substance on his leg, though some of it still stuck on to him.

The two Sewaddle were quickly thrown off, however, and while Dust was grateful he managed to throw them off, he couldn't help but wonder why they were so easily thrown off, until he noticed they were a bit slimy and shiny.

"Fascinating, it seemed as though your slime acted as a type of protective coating for my body," Dust explained. "Looks like it made it hard for them to find a strong grip on my body."

"I'm glad my slime is good for something," Berry remarked. "More of them are coming, we need to get away from that tree, it's likely their territory!"

Before Dust could move, however, more Sewaddle shot out String Shot at Dust, trying to cover his body. Dust noticed that the String Shot was slipping off his back. Berry's goo made it too moist and slippery for the sticky substance to stick, unfortunately the same couldn't be said for his legs.

Dust tried to move, but the String Shot on his legs were much harder to move than last time. "Berry, I can't move! You need to use your slime to help me get them off!"

"I-I'll try!" The Goomy quickly slithered down to Dust's legs, starting with the back.

The Sewaddle, the two in the front, and the rest of the group in the back, started to get closer. Berry noticed they were readying an attack. Berry let out a yelp when she saw they were creating leaves around themselves, about to use Razor Leaf.

Since Berry was behind Dust, she took the Razor Leaf from the group of Sewaddle, while Dust was hit by the two in the front. Dust let out a hiss as he felt the Razor Leaf cut into his fur, though somehow his Pecha Scarf remained untouched. The Absol did hear the Goomy give out a scared shriek when she was hit by all those Razor Leaf attacks behind him.

"Berry!" Dust shouted, trying to turn but couldn't see that far behind him due to his legs still being stuck. He turned towards the two Sewaddle in front of him and fired Ice Beam at them, causing them to be frozen in their tracks.

"W-what the…?" Dust heard Berry say in confusion.

Then the Goomy hurriedly slithered around Dust's legs as the group of Sewaddle gave confused noises. With Berry's slime moistening Dust's legs, the String Shot began to slip off of the Absol's legs, until it was easy for Dust to move them away from the sticky substance.

Dust shook his legs a bit, glad to be finally free. He then looked at Berry and was surprised to see that there wasn't a single scratch on her. "Berry? Are you alright?"

"I-I don't know, I-I mean I d-don't know what happened… I didn't feel any pain, but I know they hit me," Berry said, confused herself.

Dust was about to ask her more, but then saw that the Sewaddle were still coming, some of them preparing String Shot again. "Okay, I don't want to get covered in that again, so let's end this."

Dust opened his mouth to fire another Ice Beam, but when he tried releasing the attack, nothing came out. He paused for a sec, unsure of what happened. He tried again, and still nothing happened. It then occurred to him of how many times he has used his attack since entering the dungeon.

"Huh, looks like I've used up all my energy for Ice Beam," Dust noted, it being the first time that actually happened to him.

Some of the Sewaddle shot out String Shot again, though it only slipped off of Dust and Berry. The other Sewaddle started to charge in for a Tackle attack.

"Use your other attacks!" Berry quickly said before she used her own Tackle against one of the Sewaddle, which sent it back a few feet. "Whoa… I didn't know my Tackle was that strong."

The other Sewaddle started to gang up on her, and Berry yelped as they tried to use Bug Bite on her, but they spat out the goo they ended up biting into, coughing. Berry shook them off her before she slithered back. Although her slime and Defense Scarf was protecting her from most of the damage, there were still a lot of Sewaddle trying to take her and Dust out. Another Sewaddle used Razor Leaf on her again. Berry yelped as the leaves slammed into her body.

The Absol's eyes widened when he saw the leaves disappearing into Berry's body, and her body glowed red for a moment. He was so distracted that he almost didn't notice one of the Sewaddle preparing to jump at him. He would've used Ice Beam at the wild Pokemon, but he knew that would not be possible. Instead, just as the Sewaddle jumped towards him, he opened his mouth and caught the bug Pokemon using Bite. With a quick jerk, he tosses the Sewaddle aside, while also spitting.

"I hate using that move," Dust said, while spitting some more.

Berry was still confused as to what happened, but more Sewaddle jumped at her for a full on Tackle attack. The Goomy quickly opened her mouth and shot out a mix of blue and purple fire-like energy, pushing back the group of Sewaddle, shocking them from the sudden 'fire' attack. Berry panted a little, before she slithered forward, seeing how her Dragon Breath had spooked the Sewaddle.

"Do… do you… want some more?" Berry challenged.

Some of the Sewaddle tried to be brave and stand their ground. They launched at Berry, before Berry shot out another Dragon Breath attack at them, causing a few to become paralyzed, their bodies twitching.

"You did it!" Dust shouted with amazement in his eyes. "Quick, how do you feel? What was going through your mind when you used the attack? Did you feel anything specific while using it? It seems that the Sewaddle are paralyzed, so your attack must have a special effect. Now we just need to figure out-"

"It's Dragon Breath," Berry quickly answered, interrupting Dust before he could go on with his torrent of questions.

"Dragon Breath. Incredible. I've heard of the attack, but never seen it before," Dust said. "Actually, not true. Now that I think about it, I believe that is the same attack you used during your match against Blizza, though that one had much more energy and power into it, probably due to your outburst. Regardless, not only were you able to perform the move twice, but from the looks of it, you were able to maintain control while using it. Oh I wish I brought my journal, I could be taking so many notes right now."

Berry sighed as little. "I figured out how to use it back at Waterfall Cavern, I had just been hesitant to use it. My guess is that I condensed the attack before when I used it on Blizza, I remember… faintly, trying to condense a strong energy into one big attack."

Dust looked more fascinated at that, hearing Berry admitting to having a faint memory to her outburst. But before the Absol could start shooting out more questions, Berry shook her head.

"We should move on before more Sewaddle or other wild Pokemon come over here. This battle caused quite a bit of ruckus after all, it's bound to draw some unwanted attention," The Goomy warned.

"Right, move now, questions later," Dust nodded as he crouch for Berry to hop on. "Let's get going."

Berry hopped onto Dust's back, and the Absol began to move on.

"By the way, Dust, did you know what happened back there when I was hit by the Razor Leaf? I uh… had my eyes closed, but I did feel all tingly," Berry asked.

"Hmm… I'm not entirely sure. From what I've seen, it looked like your body was able to not only nullify any damaged from those Razor Leaves, but it seemed to absorb that energy. That would explain how you didn't take any damage and how your attacks seemed much stronger. Now the real question is why?" Dust explained, while still thinking over what happened to Berry.

The Goomy hesitated for a moment, before giving a suggestion. "Maybe… maybe we could… ask the other guild members? They might know…"

Dust found the stairs leading to the next floor, and he started to walk up it, considering Berry's suggestion.

* * *

**Dusk Forest 3F**

"I do think that the Water Stone is somewhere on this floor," Berry informed. "I sense a strong water energy here, and I doubt it's from a strong Water type."

"You have to let me do some experiments with your antennae," Dust said, always amazed by Berry's ability to sense her surroundings.

"I… worry what you would do to my antennae if you do." Berry frowned. "They're very sensitive after all."

"Don't worry, I promise I will not do anything to harm your antennae. The only thing I truly would test them for is their sensing abilities. Things like their range, what exactly you can sense, if you could focus them to tell exactly what you are sensing. Just simple things." Dust answered.

"Uh, well… I never had to really describe it before," Berry admitted. "Couldn't you sense disasters or something with ill intentions?"

Dust remained silent as he continued walking before deciding to speak up. "I've never really been good at sensing disasters or anything of the like. My mother can easily sense it, but she told me that it takes time and hard work to actually be able to sense oncoming danger or such. Actually, I think the only time I've ever actually sense any form of disaster was when you had your outbursts. At least I think it might be, I end up feeling this strange pressure each time you used a powerful attack. Then again, I could be wrong and that feeling is something everyone else could've felt."

"Oh… I didn't know it was something you'd have to train…" Berry said before thinking. "Actually… now that I think about it… we civilized Pokemon don't rely on our instincts as much as wild Pokemon do… is it possible that our instincts dulled over the generations?"

"Funny how you mentioned that," Dust noted. "My mother once mentioned how she was somewhat envious of wild Pokemon. She said something about despite civilized Pokemon being more advanced in almost every way, compared to wild Pokemon, we are much weaker."

"Oof… that kinda stings… but I guess it makes sense. The history books mentioned how humans were very weak compared to Pokemon, but they were intelligent, smart enough to invent these… um… sphere things to have Pokemon listen to them and form a bond," Berry commented. "I guess that would explain why guilds have these Dojos, it's to help us train so we could prepare for the wild Pokemon, and why we travel in teams instead of solo."

"That is true, unfortunately almost all history pertaining to the human race has been lost," Dust added. "Coming across any book containing any mention of the human race is truly rare."

Berry's antennae stiffened. "Heads up, we got more Taillow flocks heading our way. Do you think we'll be able to take them this time, partner?"

"Well we've taken our fair share of hits since coming here, but I think we can handle them," Dust reassured.

Team Night Tide, having gotten back into their groove, managed to take out the Taillow that came at them. Though Dust was out of Ice Beam, he was still able to use other damaging moves like Bite to cause a lot of damage, and Berry using Dragon Breath to paralyze them, making it easy to knock them out. The both of them felt a little stronger walking away from the fainted flock.

"Dust… if you're still planning to train at the Dojo after my week of babysitting is over… would you mind if I trained with you?" Berry asked after getting back on Dust's back.

"I wouldn't mind," Dust answered. "Truth be told, I actually don't know what I'm doing there. I've never really trained before and tried copying others. Vesper did give me some tips, but I think having you there would help even more."

Berry gave a small smile at that.

As the Absol was passing by a pond, however, Berry's antennae twitched. "Oh, wait, I think the Water Stone is around here."

Dust stopped, turning to see what Berry's antennae were doing. He looked around and noticed a pond, surmising that the Water Stone would most likely be there.

Dust peered into the pond, but could see very well beneath the water surface. "Do you see it?"

"I think so… a little hard to see since the Water Stone can blend in with water, go figure," Berry sarcastically added. "I'll go in and see. I don't… think I would evolve by touching it, so hopefully it won't be used up if I touch it."

Having an identity crisis must be difficult, as Dust could only guess, the things he read about Goomy didn't say they evolved via stones, however, so Berry should be safe with touching the Water Stone. Berry hopped off of Dust's back, and hopped into the pond, swimming underwater to look for the Water Stone. Dust sat down to wait, his fur still a bit gooey from when Berry coated him in slime to get him out of the Sewaddle's String Shot.

_It's a wonder that the slime that helped me earlier is also the very same kind that almost ended my life. _Dust raised his arm inspecting the slime residue that was still on his fur. _I think it's safe to say this stuff isn't flammable, but there's always the chance it could be. Especially since there are toxins mixed into Berry's slime, though whether its due to her species or being around Wooper and Quagsire her whole life, I can't say. Gotta remember to ask for a sample in the future, I would love to see what properties her slime could contain._

Dust mused to himself until he saw a shadow coming up the water. He saw Berry's antennae coming up first, before Berry's head lifted up to the surface with a big, blue, watery looking stone in her mouth. Berry looked uncomfortable, however, and she wasn't moving towards shore. Before Dust could ask, Berry used a weak Water Gun to shoot the Water Stone onto the shore next to Dust.

"Dust… do me two favors," Berry suddenly said. "One, put that Water Stone into your satchel."

"Um… okay," Dust grabbed the stone and put it in his bag. "And what's the second favor?"

Berry suddenly jumped out of the water, and Dust's eyes widened when he saw a Feebas stuck to her back with its mouth. "GET THIS THING OFF OF ME!"

Dust was too shocked at the sight and it took him a good second to snap out of it. "R-right. Um… just give me a second."

Dust went to Berry and looked at the Feebas. The water Pokemon looked like it had a strong grip, and Dust wasn't exactly sure how to take it off. He gripped the fish Pokemon between his claws and tugged hard, but all that accomplished was lifting both the Feebas and Berry off the ground. While still holding the Feebas, he lowered it until he was eye leveled with Berry.

"Um...I think this Feebas is stuck on hard." Dust apologetically said.

"Didn't Dr. Perfume or Otti tell you how to get a Feebas off when they're trying to suck on your body?" Berry asked.

Dust frantically shook his head. "They never mentioned anything like this! And frankly, I wouldn't think they would have too, I don't think anyone would have expected something like this happening!"

"So now what do we do? Take it with us to the guild?" Berry frowned, trying to hop around a bit to get the Feebas off of her, but it was to no avail, her slime did nothing to get the fish to slip off of her, if anything it made it harder.

"I… guess so." Dust agreed.

"What? I wasn't being serious about that!" Berry yelped. "This is completely mortifying!"

Dust was already placing Berry, along with the Feebas attached to her, on his back. "Well I see it as the most logical way. Maybe if could use Ice Beam I might be able to get the Feebas off, but even then that would risk harming you in the process. We could wait until it decides to let go of you, but I don't think it's going to do that anytime soon. Do you have any other suggestions?"

Berry was grumbling, turning her head around as much as she could to look at the Feebas, glaring at it. The Feebas didn't seem to mind Berry's glare, it looked to be enjoying itself, enough that it wasn't flopping around despite being out of water.

"... No…" Berry finally grumbled. "Oh… maybe we can get it to let go of me with food? Tempt it with an apple or a berry or something."

Dust checked his bag but shook his head. "Looks like that encounter with the Sewaddle and their Bug Bite caused us to lose our remaining food. Remind me to put this in my journal later, having a Feebas to suddenly attach itself to you is very strange. But it could lead to understanding wild Pokemon and their nature in the future."

Berry only groaned as Dust tapped on his Unity Badge, which teleported not only him, but the two Pokemon that were on him. They were now back at the entrance to Dusk Forest, where Twilight and Sunny were waiting for them. Dust approached the two Ponyta.

"What the…" Sunny stared at Berry with the Feebas stuck to her back. "What did you do, go fishing with your partner as the bait?"

"Not exactly, more like an unexpected hitchhiker." Dust explained.

"Well it's not the strangest thing we've ever seen," Twilight chuckled a bit. "But I have to say it's pretty close."

"Yeah, that spot is reserved for you," Sunny said while looking at Dust.

"Sunny, that's rude," Twilight huffed.

"Nothing wrong with being strange," Dust said. "If anything, the weirder the Pokemon, the more unique they end up being."

Berry shivered. "Can we hurry and get on the Carriage? I can feel this thing's tongue licking me!"

That actually caused the others to give a look of disgust at the thought of it. With that, Dust wasted no time getting on the carriage with Berry still on his back, and the Feebas on her's.

"Guess we better get back to the guild in record time," Twilight chuckled.

The two Ponyta began to run back to White Leaf Town, which was thankfully not very far from Dusk Forest. Dust couldn't help but wonder if it was a good or bad thing they were taking this Feebas back with them. From what he read, Feebas were quite rare, and had the potential to evolve into a powerful dragon-like Water Pokemon. But then he stopped, realizing that was Magikarp, not Feebas. Though he was right about the Feebas being rare.

_So if it's a Magikarp that can evolve, then what makes you so rare? _Dust asked himself, looking back at the Feebas. _Their appearance doesn't seem to make them that rare, and I don't recall reading anything about them being powerful. Maybe it's what it can evolve into that makes it rare… Unless they don't evolve. I look forward to studying this… rare Pokemon._

Berry was still grumbling that the Feebas refused to let her go, even though they were getting further away from its home in Dusk Forest. Dust couldn't even tell if the Feebas was male or female either, he had no idea how to tell the gender of a fish, something to ask to Otti or Dr. Perfume later.

Dust looked up, seeing they were almost at the Unity Guild, excited for more answers, but also felt a little bad for Berry due to her obvious discomfort to the Feebas on her back.

"Let's… get this over with…" Berry sighed in resignation.

Dust couldn't help but smile as he hopped off the carriage and entered the guild.

* * *

**Reviews**

**Greatest Guy****: Travelling Master: **Yup, nightmares do tend to suck. But yes, Dust is really lucky to have a partner like Berry, dying would have really sucked. Probably be the end of the story right then and there.

**Guest****: DarkFoxKit:** I'm… having trouble understanding what you're asking here. We never confirmed or denied that the Goodra is Berry's mother. The Comfey know about Goomy because she's a nurse. Goomy aren't common knowledge though.

**Travelling Master: **You are correct, Dust is more convinced that Berry is a dragon. But as to whether or not she is the Goodra's daughter, he really isn't sure. The only thing that really stuck out to him was the similar qualities that Berry as a Goomy had with a Goodra. This is mostly based on from what Berry had told him, but for the time being he is trying to figure out the best way to convince Berry. As to how, only time will tell.

**DarkFoxKit:** Berry does suspect she might be a pre-evolved form of Goodra, or at least have some kind of similarities to it, but she is trying to deny it. The Goodra scared her, and she's worried about becoming a monster after finding out she was responsible for almost killing Splash, and also almost killing Dust, that really can't be good for her psyche.

**InfernalzRush****: DarkFoxKit:** Author used Late Update.

It was super effective!

Reader's excitement and happiness went up!

Author is pleased.

Co-Author re-joins the battle.

Co-Author used unpacking

It's not very effective.

Co-Author continues to unpack.

**Travelling Master: **First off thanks for your patients and also thank you for wishing me luck. Really needed it. It's been about 2 weeks since I got to my new place and I'm slowly starting to settle in. Won't be long until I finally finish.

**DarkFoxKit:** Yeah, I re-watched that episode where Ash got Goomy, and that was what gave me the idea of waking Berry up with water. It was adorable. Don't worry, Berry wasn't the one in danger of dying. XP

**Travelling Master: **Yeah, I can see that comparison with Eclipse and Mew. You never want to get on either of their bad sides.

**Moonstone Haze****: DarkFoxKit:** Yeah, nightmares suck. Berry definitely had quite the experience, and her guilt was eating her alive after almost killing Dust.

**Peppermint Heart****: DarkFoxKit:** No, Darkrai had nothing to do with Berry's nightmare.

**Lunar Kisses****: DarkFoxKit:** By nightmare coming true in reality, do you mean Berry evolving into a Goodra? Because I'd rather none of that happened other than her evolving. ^^' But if you meant the evolution, that will be an interesting scene to write for.

**Mystic Shy****: Travelling Master: **Yup, Berry's been through a lot, but it does make sense on why she had a nightmare. Being exhausted both physically and mentally did take a heavy toll on her, there was a lot on her mind. But luckily she ended up okay, at least for the time being. Nightmares like that tend to have a nasty habit of sticking around.

**Violet Sparkle: DarkFoxKit:** What? Are you talking about the nightmare being a serious punishment? Berry did that to herself, it's not Darkrai or anything. Her guilt and fear is what gave her those nightmares. She almost killed Dust, and she found out recently she also almost killed Splash. Don't worry though, Berry will catch a break… eventually.


	13. Chapter 13: A Strange and Shabby Fish

**DarkFoxKit: *Is playing on her Switch with the new Pokemon Mystery Dungeon DX***

**Traveling Master: **You're playing the demo again?

**DarkFoxKit:** Nope, I'm playing the actual game. As strange as it is, I got it a day early.

**Travelling Master: **What?! That's so lucky! Tell me, is it just as good as the original?

**DarkFoxKit:** In my opinion? It totally is! I know there will always be people out there who will prefer the original over the remake for one reason or another, but to me, this is leaps and bounds better. It's the original but better, they added in modern mechanics from Super Mystery Dungeon, such as being able to push your partners into a preferable position, your partners can snipe enemies from far away and stuff. But recruiting is also back, you're free to take on as many jobs as you want, and, while I haven't seen it yet, I've heard it's possible to run into shiny Pokemon, which would be a first for the series. Shiny story Celebi from Explorers not counting of course.

**Travelling Master: *Lets out a whistle* **Wow, that sounds really cool. Still crazy that you are somehow able to play a day early.

**DarkFoxKit:** I know, right? Oh, readers, this goes up by the 6th, but we were writing this on the 5th, hence why I said I got mine a day early. Okay, T.M. do you have anything you want to say to the readers before we scoot them into the chapter?

**Travelling Master: **Hmm...Not much...Oh wait, so last chapter I mentioned a side story I was planning on working on. Funny thing it, just as I was about to start it, a new idea hit me pretty hard. Still going to be a randomized Nuzlocke for one of our characters, but this time it's taking place in Pokemon White. Still in the process of making it, but I'll let you guys know when it's finally out...And I think that's all from me.

**DarkFoxKit:** Alrighty then, let's get this chapter posted so I can get back to Pokemon Mystery Dungeon DX. :3

* * *

**Chapter 13: A Strange and Shabby Fish**

When Dust came into the guild, the other Pokemon were indeed staring. They were surprised to see that Berry was on his back while she had Feebas stuck on her back. Berry was not amused, though the Feebas didn't seem to mind at all.

"Hey, Team Night Tide!" Talon called out with Tippi on his back. "I was just about to go out and…"

Talon stopped when he saw the Feebas. "... You… uh… have a fish stuck to your bug partner's back… did you use her as fishing bait or something?"

"No, but I can see how that would give others the idea," Dust noted. "This Feebas decided to… tag along. It seems to have grown quite attached to Berry."

"It looks kind of… funny," Tippi giggled.

"And you can't get it off?" Talon asked as he curiously inspected the Feebas. "... It… uh… is it trying to eat her?"

Dust shrugged. "I honestly have no clue. We tried getting it off, but it refused to budge. In the end, we decided to take it with us in hopes of getting it off here."

"I certainly want it off," Berry grumbled.

"Heh… well good luck with that," Talon chuckled sheepishly before he turned to his partner. "Are you ready to take on this mission?"

Tippi nodded.

"Oh, what kind of mission are you taking?" Dust inquired.

"It's just another rescue mission, we have to save a Snivy from the Boggly Woods dungeon," Talon answered with a shrug.

"Oh, well good luck with your mission then." Dust said.

"Good luck with your… fish problem," Talon said before he flew away.

Berry frowned a little. "Did you notice that… Talon seemed a little more… melancholic today? Or maybe that's just me due to this stupid Feebas."

"Hmm? I didn't really noticed," Dust shrugged. "Either way, let's go see Dr. Perfume, I'm sure he should have a solution to our problem."

"Yeah… I wonder how low on the food chain a small goopy creature like me is, considering I almost got eaten in the past several days now," Berry grumbled, clearly in an annoyed mood.

Dust was about to say something, but paused at the thought. "... That is a good question. While certain Pokemon are definitely higher on the food chain, how does that exactly apply to us as civilized Pokemon? But more to the point on wild Pokemon, you do bring up a good point. I wouldn't assume that you would be that far below, maybe your slime is considered a delicacy among certain wild Pokemon. But that only raises more questions. Perhaps if -"

"Dust, it was a rhetorical question," Berry spoke up, interrupting Dust.

"What?" Dust looked back, now realizing what Berry meant. "Oh, right. My bad. Let's get to Dr. Perfume now."

The young Absol moved through the guild, heading to the Medical Bay, when a Yamper suddenly came running to them. Without slowing down, the Yamper jumped and pounced Dust in the chest, this caused Dust to fall over, and Berry fell over as well, though the Feebas still stuck to her. The Yamper wagged its lightning shaped tail as it started to lick Dust's face.

"Please stop!" Dust spatted, feeling uncomfortable at having someone lick his face. "That's enough!"

The Yamper finally did stop before it went over to Berry. Berry blinked as the Yamper licked her head for a moment, before it stopped.

"Hmm… I thought the slime might've tasted better… maybe it's more of an aquatic taste," Yamper said before she started laughing. "Get it? An aquatic taste, because you have a Water type stuck to your back! … It sounded better when it came from Chihiro."

Dust got up, shaking his head to get any residue off on his face. "Well I suppose that is one way to test the flavor of Berry's slime, though even I wouldn't resort to that. I don't think we've met, I am Dust and my partner with the Feebas stuck to her back is Berry."

"You really shouldn't be tasting my slime anyways, it's got some toxins in it," Berry grumbled. "This Feebas might end up poisoning itself."

Yamper laughed more. "Well, first of all, Feebas are very hardy Pokemon. They can survive even in the murkiest of waters, so a little toxin from your slime isn't going to hurt it. Second, we have met before, Dust."

Yamper's body glowed suddenly and changed into a Mew. "Remember me?~"

Dust perked up at seeing who it was. "Otti! What a pleasure running into you today. Or should I say you running into us."

Berry was still in awe whenever she saw Otti's Mew form, though she was now twice as embarrassed to have the Feebas stuck to her back.

"Heh, it's a good thing that I ran into you two then, seeing how poor Berry here got a Feebas stuck to her," Otti chuckled before she floated around Berry, studying the Feebas for a moment. "Although, I have to say, I'm impressed you even found a Feebas, they're really hard to find in the wild and in dungeons. Where did you find this one?"

"Actually, this one found us," Dust explained. "We were in the Dusk Forest Dungeon looking for a Water Stone. Berry went into the pond where the item was, and when she came back, the Feebas had attached itself to her back."

Otti started to giggle as Berry started to turn red from embarrassment. "I see, that's quite lucky then. It seems the Feebas got a little attracted to our little Goomy~"

"I wouldn't call it lucky…" Berry grumbled. "Can you get it off, Otti?"

"Yeah, you just have to know how to handle these things," Otti answered before she floated closer to the Feebas.

Otti started to tickle the Feebas's head. "Koochi koochi koo~"

The Feebas started to giggle and wiggle, and eventually it let go of Berry, laughing too much to hang on anymore. The Feebas flopped on the floor, still laughing.

"... Tickle it… it was… that easy?" Berry deadpanned.

"Hmm, I never would've guessed," Dust noted. "But a very effective method."

Otti then transformed into a Sobble before she used a weak Water Gun on the Feebas. "I didn't want it to dry up. So, what are you two going to do with the Feebas?"

"That is a good question," Dust looked over the Feebas. "These are quite rare and I wouldn't want to miss the opportunity to study it. But there's really no place to keep him in our room. Would it be possible to leave it with you in the Research Lab?"

Otti shook her head. "With all the equipment we have, there would be hardly any room to care for the Feebas."

Berry looked at the Feebas, and it flopped towards her with a smile on its face. Berry backed away quickly.

"Maybe we should just release it back into the wild?" Berry suggested, not wanting the Feebas to get stuck on her again.

"What?" Dust went to pick up the Feebas, holding it carefully. "This is a rare Pokemon. We can't release it back. Plus, I may not be good at reading emotions but even I can tell that he wants to stay."

Otti grinned as she transformed into a Chatot. "Good, so you're able to tell this Feebas is a male. Most non-fish Pokemon have trouble telling a fish Pokemon's gender apart. Well, here's my suggestion; why don't you make this Feebas a part of your team?"

"What? But it's… wild, and… a fish, doesn't it need to stay in water?" Berry asked.

"Not exactly," Dust pointed out. "While yes, in the past all fish Pokemon needed water to survive. But with time, they were able to adapt to where they could survive even out of water, though that doesn't mean that they prefer to be in it instead of out of it. They have better mobility while underwater, but regardless, the occasional splash of water can rejuvenate any fish Pokemon out of water. It's quite similar to how you are in the mornings when you decide to soak yourself in the pot."

"I guess. I didn't usually see fish Pokemon come out of the water back at home," Berry noted.

The Feebas flopped closer to Berry.

Berry backed away again. "Or one that actually likes me. Funny how it's the wild and… humbled looking one that ends up liking me."

"It could be that it likes the taste of your slime," Dust added. "Otti did say your slime had an aquatic taste to it."

"Well, I don't like being seen as delicious food," Berry huffed.

"You know, a Feebas does have a really… stellar evolution, if you can evolve it," Otti continued. "And as for it being wild, don't you remember that nursery school Phantom showed you before? You can take the Feebas there, and he will be educated to be more civil, then he'll be able to join your team."

"That's right, the nursery," Dust remembered. "Thank you for the solution."

"Your welcome," Otti replied. "Oh, and Dust, how are you feeling?"

"Hmm?" Dust asked.

"I've heard about your recent recovery, I was wondering if you're doing okay." Otti answered.

"Oh, well I'm doing a lot better now. It was pretty close though, if it wasn't for Berry, I might've not made it." Dust said.

Berry frowned. _You wouldn't have been in danger in the first place if it wasn't for me..._

"That's good to hear." Otti smiled. "You know, whenever one comes close to… meeting their end, there have been accounts of those who recovered sharing many different things. Some shared that they've seen their life flashed before their eyes while others would say that someone was there to greet them. Do you recall see anything special while you were unconscious?"

Dust paused for a moment. Just like before, he normally would've been eager to share the entire details of what happened, but once again he was hesitant. "Yeah, I… remember this dream I had. I saw my mother."

"Anything else? Did you see anyone else appear?" Otti asked, getting closer to Dust.

"Nope," Dust lied. "Just my mother."

"Hmm… I see…" Otti remarked before she gave a small nod. "Okay then. Well, you and Berry better get to the Nursery then. You do have a Water Stone to turn in soon."

"Right, almost forgot. Thanks again." Dust then turned to the Feebas, trying to figure out how to carry him. One idea came to mind, one he didn't really want to do. "Alright… let's make this quick, the sooner we bring you to the nursery, the sooner we can get it over with."

Dust then reluctantly bent down towards the Feebas while opening his mouth. Dust really disliked biting other Pokemon, but he figured he could at least hold the fish Pokemon with his mouth. The Feebas, seeing an Absol with it's sharp teeth coming closer and closer to his body, started to freak out and flopped away from Dust.

"Hey!" Dust exclaimed. "Hold still, I'm only trying to carry you!"

Otti was laughing. "The Feebas doesn't know that, it's still wild, it just thinks you're trying to eat it."

While Dust was chasing it, though catching up to the Feebas wasn't the problem, it was trying to catch it with his mouth, the Feebas hopped over to Berry. Berry's eyes widened, the Feebas was fast for a fish out of water, and it flopped on top of her. The Feebas then hopped again before attaching its mouth on Berry's head, thankfully not on her antennae though. Berry gave a very annoyed expression.

"Oh yeah, a big fish hat, this is way better," Berry grumbled.

Otti couldn't help but laugh even more. "I guess that's one way of doing it."

"Looks like you'll be carrying him then while I carry you," Dust noted. "Funny how that works out in the end."

"We just got back to square one!" Berry huffed.

"True, but we now know how to get him off," Dust optimistically said. He then crouched near Berry to make it easier for her to get on. "Sorry to say this, but I'm kinda glad that its this way, I can't imagine how a Feebas taste and I'm not really eager to find out."

Berry rolled her eyes before she slithered onto Dust's back.

"Good luck with your new teammate," Otti said as Dust started to walk to the Nursery School.

As Dust was walking away, Berry looked back at Otti as they were getting out of sight before she looked back at Dust. "... Don't you think Otti might actually be Mew but is pretending to be a Ditto? I think that's the case, there's no way an ordinary Ditto would exude that aura only a Legendary Pokemon would have even in her Mew form."

"While you do bring up a good point, don't forget, neither you nor I have met a Ditto before. Maybe she's able to replicate a similar aura or feeling from transforming into Mew," Dust explained. "Plus, I find it very unlikely for Mew to actually choose to be here."

"You never know, Mew does things on a whim after all," Berry remarked before she shook her head a bit, and almost fell off of Dust's back. "This Feebas is a little heavy."

"Shouldn't be too long, we're almost there." Dust replied. "Then we'll leave the Feebas at the nursery, turn in our mission, and you can start your babysitting."

At mentioning the babysitting, Berry started to get a headache and groaned.

* * *

Dust walked into the nursery school, he and Berry looked around, seeing a few Pokemon looking at them curiously.

"I wonder who's in charge here…" Berry remarked.

"That would be me," A male voice caught their attention, causing them to turn around and see a Ninetales walking towards them. "I remember seeing you two before, though it was only briefly. I believe one of Chihiro's grandchildren was giving you a tour."

"Oh, yes," Dust answered. "I'm Dust, and this is my partner Berry, we're Team Night Tide."

"Hi," Berry greeted briefly.

The Ninetales looked at the Feebas on her head. "... That is an interesting way to bring a new Pokemon here."

Berry just pouted at this point.

"Heh… my name is Kura Ninetales, I'm the one who takes care of and educate the wild Pokemon here," The Ninetales introduced.

"A pleasure to meet you. I must say, when I first learned about the nursery, I was quite fascinated by the concept of teaching wild Pokemon. I didn't think it would be possible for one to become civilized," Dust said.

Kura chuckled. "Wild Pokemon are quite intelligent creatures, they are capable of learning our language, and our ways. They just need someone to teach them. However, this doesn't stop them from letting their instincts take over, so it would be wise to keep an eye on your new teammate even after his education and he joins your team."

"Interesting," He then turned to Berry, recalling her encounter with the Goodra. "That would explain how that Goodra was able to somewhat communicate with you."

"Not really, I mean that would imply someone had to have taught that wild Goodra how to speak, even a little bit," Berry remarked. "Then if that was the case, who would've been brave and foolish enough to approach a wild Dragon and teach them how to talk?"

"Good question," Dust answered. "Speaking of teaching, as you can see, it's why we are here. We were hoping to leave this Feebas in your care."

Kura went over to the Feebas and used one of his tails to tickle it. The Feebas giggled before it let go of Berry's head. Kura caught it with one of his tails to keep it from hitting the ground.

"Alright, I promise to educate this Feebas until he can become a true member of Team Night Tide," Kura promised. "What would be your mark?"

"Mark?" Dust questioned.

"In order to be able to tell which Pokemon was supposed to go to which team, I have to put a mark on them. That way a different team doesn't come in and claim this Feebas as their's and walk away with it," Kura informed. "Does your team have a mark or a symbol?"

"Uh… we never thought of our own mark before," Berry admitted, looking at Dust. "Do you have one in mind?"

Kura walked over to a table, picking up a small piece of paper and a pen with two of his tails before bringing it to Dust. "You can draw it out on here."

Dust grabbed the pen with his mouth while he thought for a while. He wasn't the best drawer, but he does remember his mother being impressed of his sketches back when he was younger. He thought what their mark should be, thinking about their team name, Night Tide. As he thought more about it, an image started to slowly come to his head.

Berry hopped off of Dust and looked at the little paper herself as Dust was drawing out their mark. "You're drawing… water?"

Dust paused for a second, taking the pen out of his mouth. "Yes, since our team name is Night Tide, I figure drawing waves of sorts would be appropriate. It just needs something else, but I can't place my claws on it."

"Can I see that pen for a moment?" The Goomy requested.

He hands the pen over to Berry, curious by what she had in mind.

Berry took the pen with her right antenna, then she started to draw a shape above the water. After a moment of intense concentration, Berry lifted the pen up. Dust saw that Berry had drawn a crescent moon above the wave.

"Oh, that's very nice," Dust admired the moon Berry had drawn.

"It is indeed," Kura picked up the piece of paper with his tail, looking at the design. "So will this be your mark?"

"Yup," Dust confirmed.

"Yes," Berry agreed.

Kura nodded before he looked at the Feebas, his eyes glowed a bright red, before Team Night Tide's mark appeared on his side. Both Dust and Berry looked in awe at their new mark.

"Impressive, how-" Dust asked until Kura lifted one of his tails, interrupting him.

"Think of it like a Psychic Stamp. Once this Feebas is fully taught and ready to join you, the mark will disappear." Kura explained. "Now, before I take this little one into the water tanks, will you give him a name? It would be important for him to hear his name over and over again until he realizes that's what he'll be called."

"Uh…" Dust began going into thinking mode, trying to go over all kinds of different Water type names for the Feebas. "Feebee!"

Berry and Kura stared at Dust for a moment.

"Um… that's… a good… back up name?" Berry hesitantly said.

"...How about... Tidal? Or Hydro? Maybe Riptide? No, or maybe Poseidon? I remember an old folklore about that name, was supposed to be some sort of powerful water Pokemon. Or am I thinking about Kyroger?" Dust was mostly talking to himself at this point.

While Dust was rambling to himself, Berry looked at the Feebas, which looked a bit frightened at being kept in the Ninetale's tail, but he perked up at seeing Berry again.

"How about we just call him Shab?" Berry suggested, getting Dust to stop his rambling.

"Shab?" Dust questioned. "Why Shab?"

"I just thought it went well with his… um… shabby-ness," Berry answered. "I'm not saying that it's meant to be an insulting name, just an easy to remember name for him and us."

"Do you both agree on this name then?" Kura asked Team Night Tide.

"I see nothing wrong with that," Dust answered.

"I think it's a fitting name," Berry agreed.

"Alright then, I will take Shab to his temporary home then. Come back to check on him any time," Kura said before he took the Feebas into another door.

Berry gave a sigh of relief. "Finally… maybe now we can go turn in that Water Stone to our client."

With the Feebas taken care of, Dust walked out of the nursery school and into the hallway with Berry on his back again, heading towards the Guild Master's office to meet up with the client. Berry suddenly stiffened on Dust's back

Dust felt the sudden change in Berry and turned to face her. "Berry, something wrong?"

"... We're not the only ones in this hallway…" Berry frowned, she looked at Dusk's satchel for a moment, considering with hiding herself in there. _No… I can't keep hiding myself every time something or someone comes along._

Dust didn't know what she meant and turned to continue walking. But when he did, he realized now why Berry had suddenly gotten uncomfortable. At the other end of the hallway was Team Crimson Raiders walking from Chihiro's office, most likely just turning in a mission themselves. Despite having some distance between them, Dust could still feel the glare coming from Crimson himself.

"Well… that is to be expected. They are guild members too, we would've ran into them at some point," Dust tried to reassure Berry, but also himself. "Let's just keep going."

However, as they got closer, due to needing to pass each other, Dust and Berry tried to ignore them, but it would seem Blizza herself didn't feel like ignoring them today.

"Why are _you_ so nervous?" Blizza demanded, catching Dust and Berry's attention.

At first, Dust thought the Jangmo-o was talking to him, but when he looked at Blizza, he noticed she was looking at Berry.

"I would've expected you to be more confident considering what you did to me in the Dojo," Blizza remarked, still looking at Berry. "You're definitely the stronger one of your team, Distortion World, I'm surprised you're even on the same team as this weak excuse for an Absol."

Berry, despite being nervous, did give a glare at the Jangmo-o. "I told you before, Dust isn't weak. We are of the same level, and of the same strength." _I can't believe I just said that to this hot headed Dragon, have I gone mad!?_

Crimson smiled at Berry after hearing her remark. "Oh, so you're saying that he's about as strong as you? Well I suppose it has been a while since our last sparring match," He then turned to Dust, his smile fading. "And it seems you've made a full recovery, so what do you say, want to have a rematch?"

Dust was conflicted with Crimson's question. He started getting that same feeling from when he lost to the Zoroark last time, and part of him wanted to take him up on that offer. But another part was telling him that it would be just a repeat like last time. He remained silent, still unsure of what to say, but Crimson didn't have the patients so he just looked away in disgust.

"Figures," Crimson sneered before turning back to Berry. "My partner is right though, you are strong, so please stop acting like you're scared. Honestly it's pathetic."

Berry wanted to retort, but she found herself unable to say anything.

"Let's go, Crimson, I have training to do at the Dojo today," Blizza huffed, still annoyed with the fact that the Goomy beat her and is acting all nervous and scared. "I'm close to evolution, I can feel it, I just need to push myself a little more."

Crimson nodded before turning back to Dust one last time. "Out of you two, your partner is much stronger, I suggest you do her a favor and stop holding her back."

With that Team Crimson Raiders leave Dust and Berry without giving them a second glance. Dust just stood there, still taking in everything they had said, especially that last part.

_Stop holding her back. _The words echoed in his mind, and he would've stayed standing there until he heard Berry behind him.

"Don't listen to them, Dust. You're not 'holding me back' or anything, we work best as a team, you saw that when we were on our mission today, didn't you?" Berry reminded him.

Dust was in deep thought, recalling how their mission went today. He finally spoke up, without turning to look at Berry. "... Yes...I remember… I also remember how you took down almost all those Sewaddle. In fact, every dungeon we've been to you've been the one taking any wild Pokemon we came across while I mostly carried you through them. You went on your own to a dangerous dungeon and survived an encounter with a wild dragon. So that proves you don't exactly need me to defend yourself. I can't help but wonder the same thing, why are you so nervous? I've seen how strong you are, with or without those outbursts."

"That's not entirely true," Berry said.

"Yes it is, you can't deny that you did do most of the work in our mission, and you still managed to get through that dangerous dungeon on your own, without me," Dust pointed out, still not looking back at her.

The Goomy frowned before she hopped off of Dust's back and quickly slithered in front of him, making him look at her.

"I didn't do most of the work in our mission. It was you who weakened and took down the wild Pokemon when we were having trouble working together," Berry reminded. "And as for when I went to Waterfall Cavern, the only reason why I made it through in the first place was because of my antennae and the ability to sense other Pokemon, I avoided the dangerously strong wild Pokemon, I didn't confront them. That makes me good at hiding, not fighting. And I wasn't completely alone, I did meet up with my oldest brother while I was there. And the only thing that kept me going was the fact that you were in danger because of me in the first place. If that Goodra hadn't decided to let me and Splash go, I wouldn't be here right now… and neither would you."

Berry frowned more. "I told you before, I don't consider physical strength as true strength. The only reason why I managed to get through Waterfall Cavern wasn't because of how powerful I was, it was because of how determined I was to save you. I was way out of my league in Waterfall Cavern, and I did have help to get the Chrysalis Flower, so I wasn't alone. Guild Master Chihiro put us on a team for a reason, Pokemon are supposed to work together, to help each other get stronger, not compare who is stronger."

There were still many thoughts going through Dust's mind. He was grateful for what Berry had done, and he would never forget it, but with everything that has happened recently, his mind was still troubled, though he supposed that Berry is right and he would just have to tackle the problem a later day.

"Right, sorry. I guess it's been a while since we've ran into Team Crimson, so I wasn't fully prepared for the outcome. In the end I guess I did let him get into my head." Dust tried his best to put on a smile, more to convince himself than Berry. "For now, lets focus on turning in the mission. Don't forget, you still have to babysit, and I'm very eager to go to the Research Lab today. There have been some news topics I've been dying to study lately. I can also add Feebas to that list of topics."

As Dust lowered himself to have Berry get on his back, the Goomy slithered past his face before she sighed. "You're stronger than you think, Dust."

Dust didn't say anything to that before Berry hopped onto his back. The two continued their way to Chihiro's office in silence.

* * *

"So, I heard you two ended picking up a hitchhiker," Chihiro chimed. "From what I've been told, this Feebas seem to have quite the _aquatic taste_ for Berry. If I didn't know any better, I would think that your slime was _Berry _sweet."

Spooks was the only other Pokemon to laugh at Chihiro's puns. Everyone else just stared in silence. Berry was more embarrassed than anything.

"I mean… that's one way to recruit a new team member, right?" Phantom chuckled lightly, feeling embarrassed for Berry.

"It's a totally hilarious way to do it!" Spooks laughed.

"Spooks, be a little more sensitive, would you?" Phantom huffed at her brother.

Chihiro only chuckled at her grandchildren before turning her attention back to Dust and Berry. "Well it seems you two are doing well. And Dust, glad to know that the Pecha Scarf is helping."

"Yes, still a wonder how simple fabric are able to hold unique properties and abilities," Dust noted. He then recalled his original intention a few days ago before his sudden collapse. "Speaking of which, last time I wanted to ask you something, but due to… unforeseen events, I was unable too. Now, I was wondering how does a member increase their rank? I remember my mother telling me about the different ranks, but as to how one would increase them, I never learned."

"Hmm… before I answer that question… were you able to get the Water Stone for your client?" The Dragapault asked.

"Right," Dust had forgotten about the stone for a moment. He pulled it out from his satchel and presented it to Chihiro. "Here is the Water Stone."

"Ah, very good. Phantom, would you go get the Leafeon?" Chihiro requested.

The Dreepy nodded. "Of course, Grandma."

Phantom flew through the wall. Spooks gave Chihiro a curious look.

"I can't help but notice how… willing you've been with letting Phantom go off on her own lately, Grandma," Spooks noted.

"Well you two are my growing grandchildren," Chihiro smiled at Spooks. "Whether you two decide to always stay with me, or wander off on your own, that is up to you. As long as you two remember to always be safe, to not put anyone else in harm's way, I'll always give you my love and support."

"But how would you perform your Dragon Darts attack without both of us, Grandma?" Spooks questioned, he rather enjoyed being catapulted from Chihiro's horns when she used her Dragon Darts attack, but it wouldn't be as effective if Phantom wasn't there too.

"Don't you worry, Dragon Darts isn't the only attack I know," Chihiro explained. "I just love using it and seeing your happy faces. I remember my first time being launched back when I was a Dreepy. It's still fresh in my memories. Though I do feel sorry for that Magikarp, never found out why I was launched at the Magikarp in the first place."

Dust was actually curious about the nature of Dragon Darts. It was a move he had never heard of before, but it sounded like Chihiro uses it to launch the two Dreepy from her horns as an attack. It was usually seen as immoral for one to launch babies at their foe, but nobody seemed to mind Chihiro doing that. If he were a smaller Pokemon, or maybe back when he was only a few years old and much smaller, he would've been interested to see what it was like to get launched out of a Dragapult's horn.

Dust thoughts were interrupted as Phantom returned, followed by a Leafeon. At seeing the stone, the Leafeon sighed in relief before walking up to Dust and Berry.

"Thank you, you have no idea how worried I was when I noticed my stone was missing," The Leafeon spoke as Dust handed him the Water Stone.

"Pleasure is all ours. I'm assuming the Water Stone will be used to help an Eevee evolve into a Vaporeon," Dust said while looking at the stone.

The Leafeon was a little hesitant but decided there was no harm in sharing some information. "Yes. Its for a relative of mine. It's supposed to be… a gift, and you can guess how hard it is to come across these evolution stones."

"I would imagine," Dust noted. "Still, I can't help but say how fascinated I am of your species. To be able to evolve into different types is quite interesting, I would love to meet an Eevee one of these days."

"I'm… sure you will," The Leafeon responded, before putting the Water Stone into his own satchel. "Since you've gotten the Water Stone back for me, I should pay your team back for it."

The Leafeon took out a small bag of Poke, which, if Dust remembered the reward list right, had about 400 Poke. The Leafeon also gave him a Reviver Seed, and a bottle of Max Elixir.

"There, that should cover the cost." The Leafeon smiled.

Dust takes the reward items before giving the Lefeon a thankful bow. "Thank you."

"No, thank _you_, you have no idea how much grief this will save me," Leafeon answered back before giving his own thankful bow. "Thanks again, and good luck to you and your teammate."

With that said, the Leafeon walked out of the office.

"He sure seemed really happy to get that Water Stone back. I wonder if it's a birthday present to his relative or something," Berry wondered.

Chihiro gave Berry a mischievous smile. "Oh, its very special to him. Who knows, maybe in the future you two might be invited to one of their _birthday parties_."

The way Chihiro said that sounded ominous to Berry and Dust, and neither were sure if they wanted to be invited to one of these 'birthday parties' now.

"So, now that the client has been taken care of, I will answer your question regarding a team rank up," The Dragapult continued. "Each guild has a different way of ranking up Crusaders. For the Olympus Guild for example, the Guild Master decides whether or not the team is ready for a rank up. Of course, it depends on their skills, mission completion, and so on. Crusaders will gain Mission Points for each successful mission completion, the tougher the mission, the more Mission Points you will receive. You can check your Mission Points by tapping on your badge, it will show you how much you have currently. If you have a certain amount, the Guild Master in the Olympus Guild will decide if you're ready to rank up or not."

Chihiro paused to let that sink in before she continued. "However, as you may have guessed, we do it differently here in the Unity Guild. We prefer to see how much a team have improved since they started or since their last rank up. Sure they have enough points to rank up, but do they have the skills and the teamwork they need for a new rank? I prefer to see it with my own eyes instead of just looking at the point system and then arrogantly deem you worthy of a new rank. So, at the end of every month, we hold a special tournament for guild members, not just us, but other guilds as well, they are welcome to join in, their Guild Masters do have to come, however, so they can judge if their own Crusaders are ready for a rank up."

"You let other guild members join in?" Berry asked, surprised by this revelation.

Chihiro nodded. "Of course, the Unity Guild is all about inclusion, even from other guilds. That was the idea when I founded this guild after all."

"How… does the tournament work then? Would we only get to rank up if we win?" Dust questioned.

"Not exactly," Chihiro explained. "The tournament is a chance for the Guild Masters to see how far their guild members have grown. As we watch, we look to see each members' skill, tactics, how they handle a difficult situation. One could even win and still end up being a lower rank then someone who lost after the first round. And that, my young Absol, is how we determine ranking here in our guild."

Dust was interested by the ranking system and had another question in mind. "So… depending on how one would do in this tournament, would it be possible for one to obtain Gold Rank?"

"Funny how you mentioned that," Chihiro smiled at the young Absol. "While it's very rare to grant the rank of Gold to someone who is a lower rank, it isn't of heard of. In fact, I'm surprised you didn't know for yourself, the last Pokemon I recalled being able to achieve something like this was your mother."

Dust was certainly surprised to hear that. "I only knew that she obtained Gold Rank within a year, I didn't know it was because of the tournament."

"Yes, Eclipse was quite the exception among other Crusaders, a true prodigy if I ever saw one," Chihiro commented. "She and her teammate had worked together in perfect sync, and they handled every other Crusader with ease. They were only at Bronze rank at the time too. Eclipse was in a different guild at the time, however, that was before she left for the Olympus Guild, feeling the guild she was in wasn't doing much for her."

"Hmm… do you get a prize if you do win the tournament?" Berry asked curiously.

"Of course. We do want teams to strive for a goal other than to show off how they fight. This is also a test in it of itself, if the team's greed or selfishness would overshadow their own concern for each other," Chihiro answered. "You get a choice with two different valuable prizes that even high ranks would seek out. You get a choice with any evolutionary items you want, that includes rare items that help Pokemon who level up to evolve as well. And in addition, you also get to choose any Technical Machine the guild has to offer. You can only choose one of each, however, so it would be good to choose wisely. The evolutionary items doesn't have to be just for you, it could be for your teammate or your future teammates, so keep that in mind as well."

While Dust wasn't too interested in an evolutionary item, on the account of not being able to evolve, the idea of choosing any Technical Machine intrigued him very much. "I can see how that would be a motivator for others to join the tournament."

"How many points does it take to get to the Bronze Rank?" The Goomy asked.

"For Bronze Rank, it would take at least 100 points," The Guild Master answered.

"And how much to gain Gold Rank?" Dust asked this time.

Chihiro thought for a moment before she answered. "Well, for Silver Rank, it would be 300 points…"

_300, huh? Not too much of a gap from Bronze, this shouldn't be too hard._ The Absol concluded in relief.

Until Chihiro said this next. "For Gold Rank, however, it would take, at minimum, 1600 points."

"1600?!" Dust shouted out loud without meaning too. He hadn't expected the necessary points to be that much.

"Yes, 1600, there's a reason why not many Crusaders can become Gold Rank without years of practice after all. Which is why it was impressive when Eclipse and her partner gained Gold Rank," Chihiro explained. "But who knows, maybe you two might do something unexpected. Only time will tell."

"When is the next tournament?" Dust asked, his mind currently on the tournament itself.

Chihiro frowned a bit, knowing what she would say will give Dust some grief. "Unfortunately, you two had missed it. It happened only a few days ago, during your recovery. Because you were in the Medical Bay, and because Berry was at Waterfall Cavern, neither of you got to see the other guild members coming into White Leaf Town for the tournament."

"...I see... That would explain why we didn't see many of the members after my recovery," Dust noted. "So we have about a month until the next tournament then?"

"Hmm…" Berry's antennae reached under her scarf, tapping on her badge. "... It's probably for the better, Dust, we only have about 50 Mission Points right now anyways. E Rank missions only give 5 Mission Points."

"Oh, 50, huh? You're already at the halfway point," Chihiro noted. "That means you two are now able to take on D Rank missions, which will earn you 10 to 20 Mission Points."

"What? I thought only Bronze Rank or higher could take D Rank missions," Berry stated in surprise.

"That's what we tell the newbies so they don't get any ideas," The Guild Master chuckled. "But Normal Ranks can take on D Rank missions once they gain enough Mission Points, it shows they have gotten capable enough to be trusted with harder missions. Besides, only doing E Rank missions would take way too long for you to be able to reach the points necessary for Bronze."

Dust was somewhat disheartened when he heard how much farther gaining Gold Rank would take, but he started to cheer up a bit knowing that they can now do higher missions now. With a month until the tournament, this only gave him more determination to achieve his goals.

"That is really great to know!" Dust exclaimed. "Thank you for answering my question, it really helped a lot."

"Happy to help," Chihiro replied while smiling at Dust. She then turned her attention to Berry. "And as for you, Berry. I think it's time to begin your punishment."

Berry gulped, suddenly feeling like she was about to be placed in the Distortion World.

* * *

**Reviews**

**Guest #1****: DarkFoxKit:** Yes, Berry has Sap Sipper. She doesn't know that it was her ability though, she just thought she got lucky or something else happened, but she is starting to realize she may not be a Wooper after all. Yeah, Berry knows about Dreepy since they're more well known than her kind are. I do like the tropes of something starting out weak, but you could see massive amounts of potential in them, with them evolving into those powerful things, it shows that your hard work with them paid off. Unlike Pokemon who start out weak and would forever remain weak, like poor Dunsparce. Maybe one day, my friend, maybe one day you'll get an evolution or another form that will have an evolution.

Heh, well of course, it would be boring if the main character immediately accepted something they didn't know about or didn't believe in. Berry fears that she may become a monster, especially after she came close to killing Dust, her brother Splash, and severely injured Blizza.

**Travelling Master: **Hmm...That is a good question. If Dust still had the T.M. Ice Beam, he would have taught it to Berry, but unfortunately, his mother took it away from him shortly after he learned the move. And even then, it wouldn't really work, since Goomy can't learn Ice Beam. And even if Goomy could learn the move, Dust would still have a very hard time trying to teach her, mostly because he wouldn't exactly know how to teach someone else a certain move.

And no need to apologize for the rant. Sometime Game freak chooses to make things that a lot of times don't make sense. For example, WHY ISN'T CHARIZARD CONSIDERED A DRAGON TYPE?!

**DarkFoxKit:** Here's another one… WHY ISN'T GOOMY CONSIDERED A WATER AND DRAGON TYPE!? It lives in the freaking water, it HAS to live in the freaking water! Don't even get me started on how Gastly, a Pokemon who is literally a ball of gas with a face, can learn Ice Punch, Fire Punch, and Thunder Punch.

**Travelling Master: **So yeah, your rant is totally justified. Though I didn't know about Gastly and the elemental punches...That's...I don't even know how...yeah, not gonna bother trying to figure that one out.

**DarkFoxKit:** Yes, there will be other Legendary Pokemon in the story. Zacian and Zamazentu were us just coming off of Sword and Shield, but we do have plans for them.

**Sandy Jewel****: DarkFoxKit:** Yup, and oh boy, that's gonna be a doozy~

**Greatest Guy****: Travelling Master: **I guess her slime just has a certain taste that Feebas happened to like...A LOT! Anyways, that's pretty accurate, we do keep in mind Dust and Berry's level when writing these chapters, helps when ever we have to write a battle scene. And gasp! Espeon! Not exactly, but good guess. But here's a little fun fact, when I first created Dust originally his father was a Luxray. Just gonna save you the trouble, the father is not a Luxray, who the father is will come later.

Only time will tell if this Feebas will join the team. But as we mentioned before, the guild does have a special place for Wild Pokemon to help them adapt to civilization. Also, about your pun...Well-

***Suddenly Chihiro somehow appears out of nowhere***

**Chihiro: **I say keep of the _Great_ work _Guy_! I haven't laughed this much for quite some time.

***Before I could even ask how she got here, she suddenly vanished without a trace.***

**Travelling Master: **...Okay...was not expecting that...Well Chihiro said all that was needed.

**DarkFoxKit:** … I should probably talk to the Fentons about getting a Ghost Shield. 10 cookies if you got that reference!

**Solar Comet****: DarkFoxKit:** Yes, yes I know Feebas evolves into Milotic. Milotic is one of my favorite Water type Pokemon.

**Dew Aura****: DarkFoxKit:** Our reason? We wanted the Feebas. In-universe reason? The Feebas saw a new Pokemon and went to check her out, then thought she looked tasty and tried to eat her. The Feebas got addicted to Berry's slime after that.

**Dino Roar299****: Travelling Master: **It's a possibility, as I mentioned before, only time will tell. But one thing is for sure, this Feebas will not be forgetting Berry any time soon.

**Guest #2****: DarkFoxKit:** Probably not. I haven't heard from Donfyre much lately.

**Guest #3:** **DarkFoxKit:** I believe that the chapter answered the first question for you. As for if the Feebas would live with them… that's something you'll have to see. Well, a Feebas can still evolve into a Milotic if it can make itself as beautiful as possible, but in Mystery Dungeon games, you just need to give a Feebas a Prism Scarf, and a Link Box to evolve it. As for how that would work in the fic, something we'll come up later. Oh, and in gen 3, they were called Pokeblocks.

**ArcherAmpharos****:** **DarkFoxKit:** Glad to see that you figure out that it was Sap Sipper that activated. Yeah, Berry figured out she wasn't a Wooper when she and Splash reunited, but coming to terms with that is a different story. She's worried about what she actually is or could be, after almost killing Dust and Splash, and severely injuring Blizza, Berry is more worried about becoming a monster.

**Travelling Master: **Well thank you for the continual patients and support. Good news is that I'm just about settled in, and as the days go by, we are able to find a suitable time to write these chapters. So again, thanks for the kind words.

**Flawless Gem****: Travelling Master: **It's Free Real Estate!

**InfernalzRush****: DarkFoxKit:** Author used update.

Reader's excitement and anticipation went up!

Co-Author used settling in.

Co-Author's pressure went down.

Author used pumped up.

Everyone's excitement rose!

**Travelling Master: **Yup, it's only been about a month and these two have been improving, but they still have a lot of challenges to face in the future. And thanks, feels nice now that I'm just about done with settling. Makes it so much easier to take care of the things I need to, like writing. And you and me both, you are gonna love the next chapter.

**Scarlet Harmony****: Travelling Master: **If you thought this was hilarious, wait until you see the next chapter. Not to spoil anything, but personally, it's one of my favorite chapters and I think it's one of mine and DF's best chapters.

**Chihiro:** Although, I guess you can say that Berry managed to feed a bas~

**DarkFoxKit:** That's it! Get out!


	14. Chapter 14: A Chaotic Game of Tag

**DarkFoxKit: *Looks around*** Where did T.M go?

**Travelling Master: **DF? When did you get here? I've been looking for you.

**DarkFoxKit:** There you are! Listen… we need to hide, now!

**Travelling Master: **...Well that does sound concerning, what's wrong?

**DarkFoxKit:** Well, guess what today's chapter is? ***Looks around nervously***

**Travelling Master: **Oh, I didn't forget. I've been looking forward to this chapter...Why the nervous look?

**DarkFoxKit:** The game is leaking out through here. The characters are about to break through the fourth wall!

**Travelling Master: **What?!... Dust! What did you do?!

**Dust: **Hey! I'm innocent! I've done nothing!... Well… maybe a little something.

***There was a large crack in the space and time continuum in front of us, and it was getting bigger, we could hear the Pokemon's voices leaking through it***

**DarkFoxKit:** RUN AWAY IF YOU WANT TO LIVE!

**Travelling Master: **Dust, when I get my claws on you!

**Dust: **I'm afraid that's gonna have to wait. You have bigger problems at the moment.

***He points towards the crack, showing that it has gotten bigger within only a few seconds. I turn around to see him already running away.***

**Travelling Master: **Hey! Great, you guys enjoy the chapter while we stay busy trying to stay alive!

***Just then, the fabric of space and time shattered, and there was nothing but static***

* * *

**Chapter 14: A Chaotic Game of Tag**

Berry was sweating, and gasping. She saw the guild was getting destroyed before her very eyes, Pokemon were using their moves to attack other Pokemon, while other Pokemon were desperately trying to avoid attacks or use their own defensive moves. Berry was on the ceiling, feeling it was the safest place to be at the moment.

_How… how did this happen…?_ The Goomy asked herself as she watched the guild getting ripped apart.

Going back to earlier that evening, Berry and Brody were standing next to each other in Chihiro's office. Chihiro, and Carrie who was standing beside her, was explaining things to the two.

"I've never… had to take care of children before… are you sure this is a good idea, Guild Master?" Berry asked nervously, worried about something going terribly wrong and the children went missing or got sick under her watch.

"I agree with the fair maiden," Brody added. "While I normally would never refuse a request from such respectable ladies as yourself, I must warn you that I also have no experience with children."

"That's okay, this is why I'm here," Carrie chuckled. "I'll be helping you two look after the children, but I will be only here to watch and help out if I need to. This would be a good experience for the both of you to learn."

The Goomy still didn't look very sure about this, but she also couldn't argue since this was probably the best punishment the Guild Master could give her and Brody for breaking the rules without being too harsh.

"I'll also let you know when you can stop for the day so you can turn in for the night," Carrie promised.

"Just be thankful I'm not forcing you both to babysit all day," Chihiro remarked.

"We are truly grateful," Brody poetically said. "It is to be expected from two beautiful and merciful leaders."

"Brody, remember what we talked about?" Carrie asked with a bit of annoyance from her voice.

Brody quickly corrected himself, blushing a bit. "R-right, sorry ma'am."

Berry gave a curious look to Brody, but decided not to say anything.

"Alright, I better get going, the duties of a Guild Master can get very taxing," Chihiro said. "It could be enough to make one a bit… _Brody_~"

Everyone just cringed at the pun, except for Chihiro and Spooks, who found her pun both clever and hilarious.

"You should go now," Carrie sighed.

"Hmm, tough crowd," Chihiro sighed before she began to float away. "Alright, kids, have fun with your new babysitters, but not too much fun~"

"See you later, Grandma!" Phantom waved.

"We'll be sure to have some fun!" Spooks stated.

"Oh boy, we have some new friends to play with!" Chloe smiled.

With the Guild Master gone, Carrie stayed near Chihiro's desk while the three children looked at Berry and Brody.

"Um… so what's the first thing we have to-" Berry began to ask before she was interrupted.

"Let's play!" Chloe declared cheerfully before she ran over to Berry and tapped her head. "Tag, you're it!"

Berry blinked as the other children scattered around the room. Phantom went over to Brody. "Come on, you have to run from Berry, don't you know how Tag works? Now move!"

Carrie just smiled at Berry and Brody's sudden bewilderment. "You best hurry now before they get too far. And Brody, I already know what your thinking, you can't purposely let yourself get tag."

Brody looked down in disappointment, for he was just about himself for Berry to tag him. "Very well. Sorry Berry."

Berry knew about the game of Tag, but it was her first time actually participating in it, since none of her siblings or their friends ever let her play with them. She was wondering how she would give chase since everyone was fast, including Chloe, and her eyes widened when she saw Phantom and Spooks going through the wall. Chloe lead Brody out the door.

"W-wait, they're allowed to leave the office?" Berry asked in surprise.

"They know which part of the guilds to stay away from. As long as they stay inside the guild, they'll be safe," Carrie explained.

"How am I supposed to catch them like this?" The Goomy frowned.

The Kangaskhan chuckled. "I'm sure you'll find a way, or you can just do nothing and they'll come back after getting bored of not being chased. But I wouldn't recommend it. They're known to prank those who they find boring."

Berry didn't like the idea of being pranked, so she slithered out of the office. She could find them, but catching them was a different story. _There has to be a way I could catch those fast little mons…_

* * *

Dust was in the Research Lab, he was analyzing his own fur that had Berry's goo on it. Something he had been meaning to do for a while. From what he learned before, Berry's slime contained traces of toxins. Then recently after their encounter with the Sewaddle, not only did it somehow protected Berry, but it also made her stronger. There were many questions he had about Berry, and everytime he thought he figured her out, something new would pop up.

_It's like trying to take a step forward, just to end up taking two steps back. _Dust thought as he examined Berry's slime.

"Whatcha doing?~" A familiar voice asked behind Dust, causing him to jump a bit.

Dust turned, and his blood went cold at seeing big, pink and dark blue eyes staring into his soul, a stare that rivaled Miyagi's. The sudden appearance of this Espurr caused Dust to lean too far back, resulting in him falling backwards. The Espurr giggled at him, finding amusement in his current predicament.

"That was absolutely priceless! You should've seen the look on your face!" The Espurr laughed before transforming into a Deerling in its green summer form.

At seeing who it was, Dust fixed himself while patting his chest, trying to calm his nerves. "I would appreciate if you didn't suddenly pop up like that, especially if you plan on mimicking Mr. Miyagi."

"Oh, I could never truly mimic Miyagi's stare. If you think he looks disturbing now, you should've seen him when he was an Epsurr, nobody could stand to be three feet from the guy, he's actually mellowed out quite a bit," Otti informed.

"I can hardly imagined Miyagi as an Espurr," Dust shivered at the thought. "Anyways, to answer your question before you so rudely almost gave me a heart attack, I'm actually studying Berry's slime."

"Berry's slime, huh? I actually heard her slime has some toxins in it, which surprised me since normal Goomy don't usually have toxins in their slime," Otti noted. "I guess her environment must've affected her body a little."

"You are correct on that," Dust agreed. "It does raise some questions, is it only toxic properties that their slime can eventually adapt too? Or can other properties be mixed into her slime? But right now, I'm actually trying to figure out something else concerning her slime."

"Oh, and what would that be?" Otti asked.

Dust then went on to recount their earlier mission today, on how her body reacted to receiving grass attacks from the group of Sewaddle. He explained how Berry had seem to sustain no damage while at the same time suddenly receive a boost of strength.

"Ahhh," Otti gave a look of realization. "Actually, that wasn't because of her slime. Hmm… Ah, give me a moment."

Otti walked over to an Oddish, and said something to them. The Oddish nodded. Otti then walked back over to Dust.

"Now watch," Otti instructed.

The Oddish summoned some leaves around themselves, they were glowing with some kind of colorful aura, it took a moment for Dust to realize the move he was looking at was Magical Leaf. The Oddish had the Magical Leaf attack Otti. However, instead of being harmed, the leaves looked to be absorbed into Otti's Deerling body, and a red glow surrounded her body for a moment, just like Berry's did when she absorbed the Razor Leaf attack.

"Incredible!" Dust exclaimed. "So if it's not Berry's slime, then it must be an ability that is just like a Deerling. But I've never heard of an ability that nullifies grass damage and converts it into power for themselves. Tell me, what do you call this ability?"

"It's called Sap Sipper," Otti explained as the Oddish went back to doing what they were doing. "It's an ability that allows Pokemon to absorb any Grass type attack and it makes their physical attacks stronger. There are other similar abilities, like Lightning Rod that attracts Electric attacks and the Pokemon absorbs the Electric attack, making their special attack stronger. Motor Drive is similar, only it ups their speed instead of special attack. There's also Water Absorb and Dry Skin that allows the Pokemon to absorb Water attacks and heals them. When facing a Pokemon, it's always important to keep their abilities in mind."

"I remember reading about the water and electric ability, but I never would've assumed there was something similar for grass," Dust noted. Then another thought occurred to him. "Otti, you seem to be familiar as to what Berry is. I understand growing up without ever hearing of her own kind would make it difficult to understand what she truly is. I've tried explaining it to her before, but everytime the subject gets brought up, either there is some misunderstanding, or she starts to get uncomfortable. Would you know of any possible way to explain to her what a Goomy is?"

Otti paused for a moment, trying to think of what to say. "Hmm… Berry believes she's a Wooper, correct?"

"Yes, her family was made up of Wooper and Quagsire," Dust explained. "Her parents believed that she was some sort of deformed Wooper."

"Well, that's the problem then. You can be as detailed as you want about what she actually is, and she still wouldn't believe you. She firmly believes she is what she is. Until she gets rid of that way of thinking, you can only do so much to help her see the truth… after all, Pokemon who refuses to see the truth will never see it," Otti explained. "She will have to accept it on her own if she is to ever truly believe it herself."

Dust remembered his talk with Berry back at the Dusk Forest, and how Berry admitted that she knew a Goomy wasn't a 'deformed Wooper' after all, but that was all she said on the subject.

"So then… there isn't much I can do for her then?" Dust asked, slightly disappointed at the explanation.

Otti shook her head before speaking up. "Just because she has to accept it on her own doesn't mean you can't be there to support her along the way. Imagine how you would feel if someone just came up to you and told you that you're not actually an Absol, but a Zorua in disguise thinking he's an Absol. You wouldn't be so quick to just accept that, would you?"

"Well, when you mention Zorua, it actually could be possible," Dust suddenly thought. "With their ability to use illusion, they might have been using their ability to the point of convincing themselves. But does that mean they wouldn't even know that they were using their ability? And how long can they keep it up? I do know receiving damage will break the illusion, but let's say that they stay out of harm's way. Would that mean that they could-"

"Dust!" Otti spoke up, cutting Dust off in mid rant. "That isn't the point. The point is to try to see it from Berry's point of view. It's not easy to just accept you may not be who you thought you were for all your life. Berry had a false belief that she was a weak, deformed Wooper who would never amount to anything, and that nobody would like her. Telling her that she's actually a different species, a Dragon type no less, would make her laugh it off or go into denial. I've seen it happen before with other Pokemon. Just be patient with her, she's smart, she'll eventually figure it out when she sees others of her kind. It's instinct, even in civilized Pokemon, to know what they are, she just has to see… wait, has she seen any Pokemon of her own species yet?"

Dust shook his head. "She hasn't mentioned meeting any other Goomy," But then Dust recalled how mentioned a certain Pokemon she'd encountered before, one that always made her uncomfortable. "Actually… she told me how she ran into a wild Dragon Pokemon while in the Waterfall Cavern Dungeon. She said it might have been called Goodra. I've never seen the Pokemon, much less heard of it. Have you ever encountered a Goodra before?"

Otti gave a look of surprise. "A Goodra? Those aren't usually native in the Waterfall Cavern… I wonder what that one was doing there… Uh… yes, I have run into a Goodra before, who was a Crusader from a region far away from here. I can show you what it looks like."

Dust nodded, eager to see what this Goodra looked like.

Otti's body glowed before it grew into something big. It towered over Dust, he had to look up as Otti kept growing, until she finally stopped. Dust could see the large, gooey dragon before him, who looked nothing like Berry, and yet looked all too similar to Berry at the same time, specifically the colors and patterns. Of all shapes and forms Dust could have imagined, he was not expecting a Goodra to look like this one. As he looked a the towering Dragon in front of him, he started to understand a little why Berry would feel uncomfortable when thinking about this Pokemon. Even he couldn't help but feel slightly intimidated from just standing in front of Otti. While it was odd to call a Goomy a Dragon type, since they looked more Bug-like, this being before him could truly be called a Dragon type just from the look and the majesty it had alone like most Dragon types had.

_And to think Berry faced a wild one. I can't even fathom how that would feel like. _Dust took a couple more steps back to get a better view of Otti.

The Absol could see the Goodra was dripping more slime than Berry ever did, he could see the floor getting green slime on it, slime that was thicker and more pronounced than Berry's. The face, Dust noted, did look friendlier than he expected, but that just made it more unnerving when he imagined the face twisting into anger. The Goodra's body looked pretty thick as well, Dust could easily guess this thing was meant to be a tank. He also noted that when Otti opened her mouth briefly, he saw no teeth. It made him wonder how a Goodra ate, he remembered seeing Berry mostly swallowing her food whole, and he remembered how Berry told him the wild Goodra she faced swallowed an entire Seviper whole. The thought of being swallowed by a Pokemon like Goodra just sent a chill down his spine.

"So… what do you think? Do you think Berry might one day evolve into this Goodra? After all, not much is known about the Goodra's evolution line, assuming it even has one," Otti said after a while of silence and Dust's analyzing.

"Well… given that both Goodra and Berry share many similar traits, it would be pretty hard to deny Goomy being able to evolve into Goodra. And that is if they don't have a secondary evolution," Dust noted. "I like to think of it similar to how a Magikarp evolves into a Gyarados. No one expected Magikarp to be able to evolve into such a fearsome beast, so a Goomy evolving into a Goodra is just as plausible."

"True, many Pokemon do have unexpected evolutionary lines," Otti chuckled before her body glowed and she shrunk down, turning into a Goomy herself. "After all, who's to say this little Goomy won't one day become a big Goodra? Even their names sound similar. But… I should warn you… while it isn't common knowledge, a Goomy is confirmed to have at least one evolution, and it isn't Goodra."

Dust was shocked to hear this, especially after seeing how similar a Goomy and Goodra were. "If not a Goodra, then what?"

"Hmm… what do you know about a Pokemon called Sliggoo?" Otti asked.

Dust thought hard about the name. It sounded familiar, and he felt like he read that name somewhere before, but he was having trouble recalling all the details. "Not much, I barely remember the name itself. I don't think there were even any pictures in any of the books… I think it was mentioned about them eating a lot? Or I could be mistaking that for Snorlax."

"Well…" Otti hesitated for a moment. "Maybe it might be best if you didn't know until you see it for yourself."

Before Dust could reply to that, Berry herself was slithering in. She stopped when she saw Otti in her Goomy form. Berry looked at Dust for a moment with a questioning look.

"Uh…" Dust was silent for a couple of seconds, trying to think of a reasonable explanation. He turned and saw the container of Berry's slime and thought of an idea. "Otti here was helping me do some research on your slime. I was curious to see how much different you slime was compared to another Goomy, if they had similar qualities."

"Smooth," Otti commented.

Berry blinked before shaking her head. "Sorry, I just… wasn't expecting to see another Goomy. It's kind of odd to see one that isn't my reflection."

"Oh, so what brings you here? I thought you were supposed to be babysitting." Dust asked, trying to change the subject.

"I am. I'm… playing Tag with the kids, and Brody… I uh… came in here, wanting to ask how I could catch them, since I'm pretty slow on my own," Berry answered.

"Alright, Berry, here's the deal," Otti started, having her right antenna around Berry's back. "If you're trying to catch faster Pokemon, you're going to want to hide yourself somewhere, and then leap at them when they pass you by. The only problem is trying to predict where they'll be. As a civilized Goomy, it would be harder for you to sense where they are."

Berry blinked at that. "It would? I know where they are, I just can't keep up with them."

At that, Otti was surprised. "Really? You can sense where they are right now?"

"Yeah… can't you since you're a Goomy yourself right now?" Berry asked, surprised herself.

Otti shook her head, which caused Dust to be even more shocked. "You can't? But… well you are mimicking a Goomy, maybe natural born ones are more attuned with their antennae. But Ditto are known for being able to replicate almost every exact detail of the Pokemon they're looking at… Perhaps it has to due with the fact that Berry has used it for most of her life, so it comes naturally for her..." He continued on, forgetting about his surroundings again as he got lost in thought.

Otti contemplated something before she let Berry go. "Well, since you know where they are, go ahead and pick one to amush. Remember, stay silent and hidden until they are close enough for you to pounce."

Berry nodded. "Thanks, Otti. Good luck with Dust, he can get lost in his own world when he's thinking about something."

"Oh, I can tell," Otti chuckled.

Berry slithered out of the Research Lab, and Otti looked over at Dust. "Okay! Enough ranting! If you want to take a slime sample from me, you better do it now."

"Slime?" Dust asked, blinking a few times before remembering why he came here in the first place. "Right the slime! Well while it wasn't intentional, it ended up actually proving to be useful in the end. Just give me a moment and I'll have a sample in no time."

"After you do… I have some research of my own I want to get to," Otti remarked, sounding interested in something.

* * *

Berry didn't know a lot about Lucario, but they were pretty famous for their ability to sense aura, so she figured Brody was out of the question, she would have to pick one of the children to ambush. She thought about Phantom and Spooks, since they were part Ghost type, they had the unfair advantage to phase through solid objects, and even if she used a non-attacking Tackle to tag them, she would just phase through them. That left the baby Kangaskhan. Berry slithered to where Chloe was. Since Chloe wasn't running or moving much, it was easy for Berry to reach where the baby Kangaskhan was.

Chloe was talking to a Cubone, not noticing Berry slowly slithering in. Berry then slithered up the wall while listening to Chloe's conversation with the Cubone.

"They really said that?" Chloe asked in a surprised tone.

"Yup, the nerve, telling me that 'not everyone can pull off wearing the skull of their dead parent, but I pull it off nicely'. My parents are still alive, and they're even a part of the Gold Rank Crusaders! I was given the skull and the bone upon birth so I could learn to use them to defend myself at an early age!" The Cubone huffed.

"I still can't believe how many Pokemon thinks that story about Cubone is true, it must be difficult living like that, with everyone thinking that's what you are." Chloe frowned.

"Yeah… you wouldn't believe how many times I had to correct others on the history of my bones, I even nicknamed myself Bones because of that," The Cubone grumbled. "And then there's that whole 'theory' that I'm actually a baby Kangaskhan, like you, who lost her mother and is wearing her skull. That theory infuriated me so much that I was ready to crack the skull of whoever started that!"

This was a perfect opportunity for Berry, as she got closer and closer to the baby Kangaskhan. She was just grateful that Chloe was distracting herself with the Cubone. Once she was close enough, she prepared to leap from her position.

The self named Bones noticed Berry, but Berry was already close enough to jump at Chloe. Chloe yelped when something gooey and slimy was suddenly on her.

"Tag, you're It," Berry whispered to the baby Kangaskhan under her before she slithered off.

"What...just happened?" Bones was already surprised to see Berry sneaking up on Chloe, but now she was completely shocked and confused after she tackled Chloe.

Chloe got up, and looked at Berry. "Oh yeah? You may have gotten me, but I can tag you right back!"

Chloe started to run towards the Goomy. Berry, however, was ready for it, and jumped out of the way. Berry then quickly slithered up a wall, making Chloe unable to reach her.

"H-hey! That's not fair!" Chloe stomped when she tried to jump up to Berry, but Berry was already too high.

"It wasn't really fair for me either, but I found a way. And you can too," Berry said before she started to slither to the door. "Good luck~"

"Wow, she got you good, Chloe," Bones chuckled.

"Yeah...she did. But you know what?" Chloe asked when she turned to face Bones. Then without warning she taps the Cubone on her chest leaving some slime to stick to her while causing her even more confusion. "Tag! Now you're it!"

Chloe ran off, leaving behind a confused Bones, with a bit of slime on her chest to just stand there. "Wait? What?! What do you mean I'm it?!"

The Cubone ran out of the room, trying to find Chloe, but she couldn't find where the little Kangaskhan went. Bones looked around for a moment, before spotting Roxy walking by. Getting an idea, Bones ran up to the Rockruff, and used the bone she was holding to tap Roxy's tail. Roxy blinked, looking at Bones in confusion at the sudden tap.

"Sorry but you're it! I don't understand myself but good luck!" Bones shouted as she ran away from the confused Rockruff.

"Wait, I'm it? Are we playing Tag?" Roxy asked before she started to run herself.

"No, I don't think-" Cobra tried to stop Roxy, but the Rockruff ignored the Seviper, running off to tag someone else.

Roxy did just that as she all but tackled a Meowth to the floor. "Tag, you're it~"

Roxy then jumped off of the Meowth and started to run away.

"Wah!?" Meowth shouted. "Hey!"

* * *

Dust just finished analyzing the two different Goomy goos. Much to his expectation, the slime that Otti produced contained no toxins within them. He already had a feeling that this would be the case, but now it was a fact that Berry's slime was unique. He also noticed some other things about the two slime, but he couldn't quite figure out why they were so different. Berry's slime not only had toxins in them, but they seem to appear much thicker than Otti's. He also noticed when testing to see how long it would take for the slimes to dry, he was surprised to see that Berry's stayed moist much longer that Otti's. This only raised more questions, but he was sure that with time, he would find the answers to them.

"I must thank you again, Otti," Dust spoke up while still keeping his eyes on the slimes. "I hadn't thought about using your slime while you were a Goomy."

However, Dust didn't receive an answer. Turning around, he didn't see Otti anywhere, either that or Otti was that Oddish back there.

"Otti?" Dust called out to the Oddish. It looked up, but shook its head. "Well if you're not Otti, then where is she?"

Suddenly, a Rattata came running into the Research Lab. Dust wondered if that was Otti or an actual Rattata, that was the problem with having a Ditto as a friend or instructor, one could never tell if it was them or not.

"Hey, Dust~" The Rattata greeted as she approached him. "I've got a quick favor to ask you. And yes, I am Otti."

"Otti? Where did you go? I've actually made some breakthroughs ever since getting a sample from the slime on your body," Dust spoke as he started to get excited. "There's actually so much that I've learned from comparing your slime to Berry, but that only leaves more questions. I noticed how her slime seemed to be more resilient than yours. Does that have to do with Berry being raised in a different environment, or is it because she is a natural born Goomy? I do hope we come across another Goomy, I would love to test their slime and compare it to-"

"Hey, Dust," Otti spoke up, cutting Dust off again. "That's great and all, but listen. Why don't you take a break from examining Goomy, and experience something you've likely never experienced before?"

Dust paused for a moment. While curious what Otti was saying, he was still wanted to study the slimes. "Hmm… I don't know? Something I never experienced before… But then again I've been learning so much, and I feel I only scratched the surface… What did you have in mind?"

Otti gave a smirk. "Follow me, I don't want it to be done in the lab."

Dust looked back and forth between Otti and the containers of slime. Finally after a few seconds, he turned to Otti and gave her a nod. "My curiosity has been touched, can't help but be curious to see what you have planned."

Dust followed the transformed Rattata out of the Research Lab, he was shocked to see a lot of Pokemon around, and they looked cautious about something. Before Dust could ask, however, Otti suddenly tapped his leg.

"So… the goal is for you to touch another Pokemon," Otti suddenly said. "Because now you're 'it', in a game of Tag. Good luck~"

Again, before the Absol could even ask, Otti turned into a Fletchling and quickly flew away, while the other Pokemon gasped before they all ran away from Dust as well. He just stood there, completely baffled by these turn of events.

"Tag?" Dust asked no one in particular. "I'm it? I don't have time to play tag. I'll just go tag that Oddish and get back to my studies."

Dust went back to the Research Lab, expecting to see the Oddish, but he was surprised that the grass Pokemon was there. In fact, as he looked around more, he noticed that no one was there. He exited the room, looking down the hallways to see some Pokemon had been watching him, but as soon as he spotted them, they quickly ran off.

"Well this can't do. I can't go back to my studies if I'm it," Dust huffed before walking down the hall. "I'll just find someone, tag them and be on my merry way."

When Dust first said that, it sounded easy. He didn't realize how difficult it actually was going to be. As he walked down the hallway, he spotted a familiar Starly who hadn't noticed him yet. So Dust decided to approach him.

"Hey Talon, glad to have run into you," Dust called out to Talon, getting his attention. "It seems as though I'm 'it' and I have to tag someone else. Seeing as you are here I'll just tag-"

"Woah!" Talon jumped back away from Dust, surprised to see him. "Dust you almost got me."

"Yes, I almost did… Isn't that the point of tag?" Dust asked, confused why Talon avoided him.

"No, if you're 'it', you have to try to catch the other players. They are going to try to keep you from catching them though. It's kind of like having one big scary predator Pokemon chasing the others as little scared prey, it's fun and thrilling, and there isn't any danger of actually getting eaten if someone gets caught, they just become the predator instead."

This just baffled Dust even more. He stepped towards Talon, reaching out to tap him. "Nonsense, I have things I wish to get back to. Let me just tag you and I'll be on my-"

"Nope!" Talon flew out of his reach. "Sorry, Dust, but it's the rules. You have to try to catch someone if you want to tag them."

"Hey! Get back here!" Dust shouted as he reached for Talon again, just for Talon to fly further away.

"Good luck!" Talon shouted before flying away, leaving behind a stunned Dust.

_I want to get back to my studies, but I can't do that as long as I'm it. But if I'm it, others would avoid me, so I can't simply walk up to them. If I want to get back to my studies, then I have to tag someone else! _As Dust thought more and more about being it, he started getting more and more determined. Looking to where Talon flew off, he sprinted off hoping to either catch the Starly or run into someone else.

Dust found Miyagi by the mission desk. The Absol thought about tagging the Meowstic, but when he started to approach, Miyagi gave him his infamous stare. Dust, wisely, decided to back away and look for someone else to tag.

Just as Dust was about to turn around, however, he ended up bumping into Brody, causing the Lucario to fall on the ground.

"Oh, sorry. Didn't mean to bump into you." Dust apologetically said. He then reached out to help Brody get up.

Brody blinked before he took Dust's claws. "Thanks… wait, you aren't 'it', are you?"

Dust blinked as he looked at Brody grasping his claws before remembering that he was "it". He quickly let go and took a step back. "...You're it!"

Brody's mouth hung open in shock as Dust quickly ran away from the Lucario. Dust wanted to go back to his studies, but he also knew he couldn't let himself be caught, and Brody would look for him at the Research Lab, so Dust needed to go somewhere where Brody would least expect it.

What the Absol didn't count on was how chaotic Brody would get. Now that the Lucario was 'it', he started to get a little reckless. Instead of using his aura to look for someone, he started to chase down the closest Pokemon he could see, but because they were a fast Electrike, Brody had some trouble catching them. So, Brody resorted to using long range attacks to tag the Electrike. Brody used a weak Aura Sphere at the poor Electrike, who yelped and jumped around to avoid the attack. This caused the Aura Sphere to hit the wall and make it shake, and a Spinarak fell on top of Brody's head.

He freaked out and started shaking his head, not realizing he could simply tag the Spinarak. The spider Pokemon fell off his head and landed on its back, slightly dazed from the shaking. Now that Brody got the Spinarak off his head, he grinned as he approached the bug Pokemon. He was only a few inches away from tapping it when suddenly, out of nowhere a giant Leaf Blade hits him on his side, causing him to be knocked away from the Spinarak.

"This close, Brody!" A rough male voice shouted at the Lucario. "We were this close to finishing a month! And when we come back from our latest mission, we find out you caused another mess!"

Brody looked up and saw that a Grovyle was standing in front of him, scowling as he had his arms crossed. Behind the Grovyle was his other teammate, a Charmeleon who currently was munching on some berries.

"Grant, how about a hello next time?" Brody rhetorically asked the Grovyle as he got up. "And it wasn't my fault, I had no choice."

"Was it for a female?" The Charmeleon spoke up after swallowing some of the berries.

"...Yes." Brody finally answered. "But it was for a righteous cause. She needed my help, you see…"

As Brody started to ramble on about his _heroic _efforts, Grant and the Charmeleon just look at each other.

"Hey Al?" Grant asked the Charmeleon.

"Yeah?" Al finished the last berry, already having an idea on what Grant would ask.

Grant started popping his neck before asking his question."Want to join in?"

"Sure," Al responded by cracking his knuckles.

Brody stopped when he saw that they were getting ready to attack him, so he held up his paws to stop them. "Wait! Before we get started, there's actually something I have to explain first. Something is going on with the guild and the members."

Al lowered his arms, a bit concerned. "Yeah, what?"

"Well what started out as only a few Pokemon, now almost everyone is playing Tag." Brody explained, his paws still up.

"So what does that have to do with us?!" Grant shouted as he crossed his arms.

Brody then smiled at his two teammates. "Well… I'm it."

Before Al or Grant could react, Brody launched two Aura Spheres, much more powerful than last time, at the Charmeleon and Grovyle. The attack sends them flying back, crashing into the wall.

"And now it looks like you two are it. Good luck!" Brody shouted before running off.

"What!? You can't tag both of us!" Grant shouted as he got back to his feet.

"Looks like he did," Al commented as he got up, shaking some of the debris of his body.

"Oooh, that's it! Brody is getting another Leaf Blade to the face!" Grant scowled before he ran after Brody.

Al chuckled as he saw the Grovyle run off to where Brody was. He then spotted some other Pokemon in the distance and gave them a toothy grin. "While you go after him, I'll go find my own targets."

His right arm is suddenly covered in flames, causing the other Pokemon watching them to let out a shriek. They run away as Al gave chase as he used Fire Punch to tag whichever Pokemon that he could catch.

After that, the guild became engulfed in pure and utter chaos. Because Brody made two Pokemon "it", nobody knew who was supposed to be it anymore. So everyone just started chasing everyone down. Pokemon were using moves to 'tag' another Pokemon, while other Pokemon were using barrier-like moves to defend themselves, or use moves like Quick Attack or Extremespeed to avoid getting hit. Lightning was being fired, flames were going all over the place, water flooded the guild, seeds were planted as vine traps, ice was freezing up the water, the ground shook to break the ice floor, and it kept going.

Berry, who was hanging upside down on the ceiling, was watching the chaos unfold. _How… how did this happen? It was just supposed to be a simple game of Tag._

Berry wasn't sure if this was her fault or not, but since she was the first to be 'it', and indulged the children with the game, she couldn't help but feel responsible for the guild's current destruction. Berry looked around, feeling a little panicked about being hit by a stray Ice attack, the last time she was hit by one, it was not only freezing cold, it _hurt,_ a lot. She then noticed something white moving into the hallway. Berry looked at the white shape in time to see it was Dust.

Not caring if Dust was 'it' or not, the Goomy quickly slithered along the ceiling and towards the hallway, careful to avoid other climbers like Spinarak and Joltik, they were pretty on edge.

"Dust!" Berry called out, still on the ceiling. "Wait up!"

Dust stopped in his tracks at the call of his name. "Berry?" He looked around, unsure if he actually heard her or if he imagined it from all the chaos happening around him.

"I'm up here!" The Goomy called. "Look up, at the ceiling!"

Dust did just that and let out a sigh of relief after seeing Berry. "Berry! What are you doing up there?"

"Oh, you know… avoiding getting potentially killed," Berry answered before she fell from the ceiling and landed on top of Dust's back.

Dust was glad to see his partner again, but suddenly grew wary of her. "Wait, how do I know you're not it?"

"Well, for starters, if I was 'it', I would've already tagged you since I'm on your back," Berry remarked. "Second, I'm not even sure who is 'it' anymore. But it's not me, nobody tagged me since I tagged Chloe."

Dust was a little skeptical, but decided what she said made sense. "Alright, I believe you. Do you know how it got like this? Last I remember was Otti tagging me, then I tagged Brody. I would've gone back to my studies but I figured he would've known I'd go back to the Research Lab so I tried looking for another place to lay low. Suddenly everyone is attacking anyone one-"

Get down!" Berry suddenly warned.

Dust quickly ducked, barely avoiding a stream of fire that went over their heads.

Dust and Berry looked ahead, seeing a Charmeleon had caused that fire and was approaching them.

The Charmeleon suddenly stopped, at seeing two new faces. "Oh, hey. You two must be new to the Guild. I'm Al, maybe you've met my teammate, Brody?"

"Uh… yeah, we're not really inclined to talk to someone who fired a freaking _Flamethrower_ at us," Dust stated.

"Right, sorry about that, you know, kinda in the _heat_ of the moment." Al snickered a bit. "Just wanted to greet myself."

"Are you… 'it'?" Berry asked.

Al then gave Dust and Berry a grin. "Yup, since you guys are new, I'll give you a five second head start."

"Run Dust!" Berry shouted.

"Right!" Dust shouted back.

Dust quickly turned around and sprinted away from the Charmeleon. He counted to five in his head and hoped that maybe the Charmeleon wouldn't be chasing him, so he took a quick glance behind him. To his displeasure, Al not only decided to chase them, but he was also gaining on them. Dust looked forward, running even faster than before.

Dust then felt something foreboding as he ran, he was running straight into the crossfire of attacks. Berry was warning him to move away. She then turned around on Dust's back and fired a Water Gun at Al in hopes of slowing the Charmeleon down.

Al slid underneath the attack before getting up and continuing his chase. "Woah, not bad! Almost got me there!"

"Is he still chasing us?" Dust shouted, barely able to hear anything with all the chaos happening around them.

"Yes! Keep going, I'll try to slow him down!" Berry quickly answered before firing more Water Gun at the still incoming Charmeleon.

Dust didn't need to be told twice to keep going. Despite his ability to sense disasters being dulled, with all the chaos happening around him, even he could pick up whenever the Charmeleon would launch another fire attack at him. He would dodge at the last second, just as the flames would get close, it also helped that Berry would either fire a Water Gun against Al's fire, or at the Charmeleon himself. Dust didn't know how long he could keep this up, his only main focus was to keep running. In fact, he was so focused he didn't end up seeing a Grovyle that ended up crossing their path. With no time to react, Dust ended up crashing into the grass Pokemon.

This caused Dust, Berry, and the Grovyle to fall down on the floor. Berry rolled over on the ground while Dust was on top of the now disgruntled Grovyle.

"Ugh… I was too focused on the Charmeleon to notice someone was ahead…" Berry groaned, lying face first on the floor.

Dust shook his head before realizing that he was on top of the Grovyle. He was about to get off but then the Grovyle beat him to it by standing up and tossing Dust's body off him as though he hardly weighed anything to him. He rubbed the back of his neck before he turned his attention towards Dust.

"How about you watch where you're going next time!?" The Grovyle shouted.

"Sorry, me and my partner were busy running away from that Charmeleon," Dust apologized while pointing at the Charmeleon, who had stopped once he caught up to them. Though the Grovyle did notice the Flamethrower just before Dust crashed into him.

"What… Al! Are you trying to tag or burn them to a crisp?" The Grovyle snapped.

"What? Everyone else is using their attacks. I just assumed that was part of the rules. Grant, you can't blame me for doing what everyone else is doing." Charmeleon, who was apparently called 'Al' by the Grovyle, shrugged.

"Do you not know how to play 'tag'? I don't know why everyone else is attacking, I just kind of assumed they decided to have a free-for-all spar or something. I only attacked Brody because that's what we do," Grovyle, apparently called 'Grant' grumbled.

Grant looked at Dust and Berry, who managed to get back on their feet, or in Berry's case, her bottom body. But as Grant continued to stare at them, something started to dawn upon him.

"Hold on, I remember hearing about an Absol who had a partner who was seriously strong… Are you two partners?" Grant asked, though he was mostly staring at Berry at this point.

Berry noticed Grant was staring at her, and she nervously slithered closer to Dust.

"Um… yes, we are," Dust answered, seeing how nervous Berry was.

Despite being hit by a Grass type move and not feeling any pain from it before, the fear of Grass types was still strongly ingrained in the Goomy.

"Good," Grant then got into a battle position as he continued to stare at Berry. He grinned at her, already getting excited at battling a new opponent. "I've been looking for a new battle partner lately."

"W-why are you looking at me?" Berry asked nervously. _Surely I don't look that impressive enough to warrant a sparring partner._

"You're the one I want to fight!" Grant shouted to her.

Grant suddenly charged at the Goomy. Berry yelped as she hopped up to avoid the incoming attack. Dust yelped himself as he had to move out of the way because he was so close to Berry. Of course, because Berry jumped to avoid Grant, she ended up landing on his head.

"What the?" Grant was confused at first but then thought that this was part of Berry's battle strategy. "Oh, very clever. Getting past your opponent's defenses and preventing them from attacking you. But you're going to have to try harder than that if you want to beat me!"

Grant then lowered his head, with Berry still attached to it, and he started sprinting towards the wall, intending to ram Berry against it. Berry yelped at seeing what Grant was doing, and at the last second managed to jump off the Grovyle. Of course, this happened almost a split second before Grant slammed his head into the wall, leaving a bit of a dent.

Berry was hopping towards Dust, sweating, and had a bit of tears in her eyes. "Dust! Dust! Get me away from that crazy Grovyle!"

"I couldn't agree with you more." Dust answered back as Berry quickly hopped onto his back.

Dust turned around and was about to leave when suddenly a trail of fire blocked his path. Dust and Berry turned to see that the Charmeleon had blocked their path.

"You haven't forgotten about me, have ya?" Al jokingly asked. "Don't forget, I'm still "it."

"Trust me, we haven't forgotten about you!" Dust shouted, taking a step back from the flames.

"Dust, can't you do something?" Berry questioned, shaking from fear, knowing Grant was going to come back for her once he recovered from that unintentional head smash.

Dust tried to think of a possible solution. So far their only exits were blocked by a trail of fire and the other by the Charmeleon himself. He also noticed that the Grovyle seemed to be much stronger and guessed they had only a few more seconds until he fully recovered. He racked his brain, looking between the trail of fire and the Charmeleon that he didn't notice a strange familiar feeling coming from within. Suddenly his vision went dark.

He recognized this feeling, it was the same feeling he had when he and Berry had that encounter with the Taillow. Though this time, he saw himself and Berry on his back, both facing Al as the Charmeleon was preparing to charge at them. He then saw that the Grovyle had just recovered and was also getting ready to attack. He saw Berry shouting something but couldn't hear what she was saying. Just then the Charmeleon and Grovyle charged forward, both with their own attacks, ready to hit Dust and Berry.

Dust blinked a couple times as he realized that he was no longer having that strange vision. He looking in front of him and saw Al preparing to charge at him, just like he saw earlier.

"The Grovyle's coming in!" Berry warned.

Dust didn't reply, nor did he look back, already having seen it. Just as Berry had shouted her warning, Al charged forward with a Fire Punch at the ready. Relying on pure instinct and what he just saw, he readied himself, waiting for the perfect timing. Just as Al was only a few feet away from him, he leaped forward, actually surprising the Charmeleon. Using his shock, Dust managed to jump over Al and used his back to jump even further. Al had no time to recover as he was now only a few feet away from Grant, who was also surprised to see what Dust had pulled off. The two ended up crashing into each other, knocking the other to the ground.

As soon as the two were on the ground, and Dust landed on his feet, he wasted no time to run away. Trying to get into the hallway and away from most of the chaotic 'game of tag'. Berry was shivering on his back. Dust could feel his danger senses still going off despite leaving behind most of the chaos. He knew this feeling, it was the feeling he got whenever Berry was about to have one of her outbursts.

Dust finally stopped once he saw that there were no Pokemon nearby. He turned to see that Berry was still shivering, so he tried to calm her down. "Don't worry, we managed to get away from them and the chaos. Let's try finding a place to lie low until everything starts to settle down."

"Who are they? What do they want? Why did that Grovyle attack me? How did a simple game of tag turn out like this? Where are the children and Brody?" Berry questioned, trying to calm down, but was still feeling quite anxious. "The Guild Master is going to skin me alive for this!"

Dust thought back to their recent encounters with the Charmeleon and Grovyle. "I have no idea who they are. The Grovyle wants to fight you for some reason while the Charmeleon is still playing tag… Though I think he's taken things a bit too far, and that's coming from me. I think he mentioned something about Brody, but I can't quite recall, but hopefully Brody is with the children, I don't think this is exactly safe for someone like them."

Dust frowned when he felt the nervous Goomy stiffen.

"Those two… the Charmeleon and Grovyle, they're coming this way!" Berry warned frantically, her body leaking out more slime as she started to sweat.

At this point, the Absol felt exasperated. The Charmeleon and Grovyle were _still _chasing them, and he couldn't tell if Berry was sweating because her anxiety was building, or she was trying to hold back an incoming outburst. Part of him was hoping that Berry might be mistaken, but he knew that Berry wouldn't make that kind of mistake. Especially when she was this anxious, her senses seemed to sharpen. Not wasting another second, Dust started running again, hoping that the Charmeleon and Grovyle wouldn't catch up to them.

And so Dust kept running and running, going down the hallway, taking left and right turns whenever he could. At this point he didn't know where he was or where he was going, but that didn't matter. He could feel that pressure still building, that sense of danger was still present. He knew it wasn't from being chased by the Charmeleon or Grovyle, but from Berry. He just hoped that he could avoid them long enough.

Unfortunately for Dust, it would appear Al and Grant knew the guild just as well as he did, perhaps more so, since Grant jumped down in front of him suddenly. Dust made a quick turn, only to see the Charmeleon there. Dust stopped and backed away from the two. At this point, it didn't feel like they were in the guild among other allies, it felt like they were in a Mystery Dungeon, being cornered by two powerful enemy Pokemon.

"Now that we finally caught up to you, are you ready to face me?!" Grant shouted while staring at Berry.

"Hey, after I tag one of them, you can have your match." Al butted in.

"Back off, once I finish my match you can tag them," Grant shouted while turning his attention to the Charmeleon.

"Or you could wait, you blockhead!" Al gave a slight shove to the Grovyle.

"And who are you calling a blockhead?" Grant shouted back while shoving his head against Al's. The two were pushing against each other, forgetting about Dust and Berry for the moment.

Dust's danger sense was starting to go off the charts from the Goomy behind him. Berry had stopped shaking, and she slithered up on top of his head.

"Both of you are blockheads. Now get out of our way," Berry hissed.

Al and Grant were in the middle of grappling each other but stopped when they heard Berry. They turned to see a different vibe was coming off Berry. They let go of each other and get into their battle position.

"Alright, now that's more like it!" Grant shouted, getting excited from feeling this pressure coming off Berry.

Dust could see, or rather, _feel_ Berry powering up an attack. She was condensing her Dragon Breath attack like before when she blasted Blizza with it. Dust wasn't sure if he should try to stop her or not. However, just as Grant and Al charged forward, Berry released her Dragon Breath at them.

The Dragon Breath was more blue than purple, but it wasn't pure blue, nor was it as powerful as it was when Berry used it on Blizza, but it was still powerful enough to engulf Al and Grant, and pushed them into a wall. Berry panted from that, looking tired, but she didn't completely black out.

"Move… Dust…" Berry panted.

Dust didn't say anything as he stared at the Charmeleon and Grant who were against the wall. He was concerned for them and wanted to check on them, but then he saw that they were slightly moving. _Well they did seem pretty strong, if they're able to move now they should be okay._

Just as the Absol was about to move, however, he suddenly got another sense of danger, though it wasn't from Berry, or the two Pokemon lying in front of him.

"WHO STARTED THIS GAME OF TAG!?"

Dust gulped, he recognized that booming voice, it was the voice of Chihiro. Berry stiffed, likely recognizing the voice herself. She slid down back to Dust's back.

"EVERYONE TO THE MAIN LOBBY, RIGHT NOW!" Chihiro shouted, everyone in the guild flinching at hearing her shout.

"...And I thought my mother sounded terrifying when she mad," Dust lightly chuckled, hoping to lighten the mood.

"I'm… dead… meat…" Berry groaned.

Dust looked back at Al and Grant, however, much to his surprise, they both already got back onto their feet.

Al was using his knees as a support, breathing a bit hard. "Wow… haven't heard her… that mad in a while. I think… the last time she was… this angry was when we destroyed that shipping yard."

"Blame the outlaw," Grant was stretching his body, seeming more fine than the Charmeleon. "If he didn't try hiding, we wouldn't have had to resort to wrecking most of the place."

"Still, we better get going," Al then turned his attention to Dust and Berry, giving them a friendly smile. "It was nice meeting you two. Looking forward to chatting with you in the future."

"And I guess our match will have to wait. Better start training, cause next time I won't be holding back!" Grant shouted, giving Berry a determined stare.

As Grant and Al walked away, Berry growled.

"Yippee…" Berry sarcastically scowled. "Dust… kill me now…"

"I can't kill you!" Dust was shocked by what Berry said, not catching that she was being sarcastic. "Plus, Chihiro wants everyone now, if I killed you, that would only cause more problems."

"It's called… sarcasm…" Berry informed, still tired.

Dust blinked a few times, now realizing what she meant. "Right… my bad... Uh… hopefully Chihiro won't be too upset. And if she is, don't worry, I find the best way to take punishments is to deal with them as quickly as possible. The sooner it's done, the sooner you can move on."

Berry groaned more. _I was already being punished, I didn't want_ more _punishment to add to that..._

* * *

Everyone who wasn't currently out on a mission had gathered in the main lobby, heads were low as the Dragapault Guild Master looked at everyone, making sure they were all accounted for before she began her lecture. Phantom and Spooks were currently in her horn, both looking guilty after Chihiro called for them.

"You all decided to play a game of tag, and destroy the guild in the process?" Chihiro questioned, causing the other teams to lower their heads more in shame. "Does anyone remember who was even 'it'?"

Some Pokemon raised their arms or limbs, others shrugged and the rest remained silent, either unsure of who was 'it' or they themselves were 'it'. At seeing the confusion among the group, Chihiro frowned and shook her head.

"This is unacceptable. I expected so much more from my guild members." Her words caused everyone to look down in shame. "Because of your little game, the guild will need to be remodeled again."

Everyone remained quiet.

"But, seeing how we're going to remodel the guild anyways…" Chihiro suddenly gave a mischievous smirk. "I'll be the one who is 'it'. You all have two seconds to run."

That two seconds wasn't as much time as most would think. It took them all at least one second to process what their Guild Master just said, and another second to react, before Chihiro suddenly used Dragon Darts to catapult Spooks and Phantom into the crowd. Chihiro didn't see who she hit, but that didn't matter to her. All she did was give a big hearty laugh.

While everyone was scrambling to get away, Dust and Berry just stood there, both opened mouth. Dust turned to his partner, giving her a confused smile.

"Well… it looks like Chihiro isn't going to kill you now," Dust chuckled though still shocked by Chihiro's reaction.

"No… but I get the feeling that stampede will…" Berry gulped.

"What stam-" Dust started to ask before his danger senses kicked in.

Looking at the crowd, they were all running in his direction while trying to get away from Chihiro. Somehow Spooks and Phantom missed every single Pokemon, they were just as surprised as everyone else was, but they looked very happy about this turn of events. They immediately flew back into Chihiro's horns, hoping to be launched again.

"This is much more fun now that Grandma is playing!" Spooks shouted, getting excited to get launched again.

"Yeah, can Berry and Brody babysit us every week?" Phantom asked, also excited about being launched again.

Dust was running, trying to get away from both Chihiro and the stampede of Pokemon.

"I never want to babysit again…" Berry groaned.

Chihiro laughed some more as she launched her grandkids again. Dust heard some Pokemon yelping, likely being hit this time.

Of all things that happened so far in this guild, Dust had not expected the Guild Master to join in this chaotic game. Grace, the Guild Master of the Olympus Guild, wouldn't have been caught dead participating in such a childish game. His mother would've put an end to it before it even started.

"Incoming Dreepy missile at 6 o' clock!" Berry suddenly warned.

Dust looked back just in time to see one of Chihiro's grandkids coming right at them. He let out a yelp as he jumped to the side, barely dodging the Dreepy. Instead of him getting hit, he saw a Pikachu get hit by the Dreepy.

"Darn, I was hoping to get you," Dust recognized the Dreepy as Phantom.

"I don't think Chihiro is tagging anyone… she's just trying to hit as many Pokemon as possible…" Berry sweatdropped, seeing how Phantom went back to Chihiro to get launched again.

"I don't think we are safe here anymore," Dust noted, seeing another Pokemon, this time it was Roxy, get hit by Chihiro's Dragon Dart attack.

Dust saw another Dreepy being launched at him, the Absol quickly ran, knowing he had to stay on the move if he wanted to avoid getting hit. While he was running, Dust noticed Miyagi was still sitting at the mission desk, not seeming at all bothered by the chaos going around him. The Absol did notice a small Psychic barrier around the Meowstic, however, likely to keep him safe from any stray attacks.

Despite how unsettling Mr. Miyagi's stare made him feel, he figured that right now, his desk was the safest place to be at this moment. He started heading towards the Meowstic, dodging Pokemon and attacks left and right. Miyagi looked up, noticing the Absol coming towards him. Dust did his best to avoid his gaze, instead he focused on the desk, but as he got closer and closer, he could feel Mr. Miyagi's eyes on him.

Unfortunately, this distracted Dust enough to not hear Berry's warning, and he was hit by a Dreepy on the side. The attack, surprisingly didn't hurt that much, but it did catch him by surprise.

"Nice, I finally got you!" Phantom giggled before she flew back to Chihiro.

"Um… are you alright, Dust?" Berry asked in concern as she got off of her partner.

"Go Berry, it's too late for me!" Dust turned his back to her. "I… am now 'it'. But you can still get away."

"Way to be dramatic," Berry chuckled. "But alright, if you're fine, I'll be going now."

Berry slithered away as Dust pouted.

At first he was slightly annoyed at being 'it' again. All he wanted to do was go back to his studies. He would've been fine on his own while everyone else would be playing this chaotic game of tag. But the more he thought about it, he couldn't help but smile. He was surprised by Chihiro's decision to join. Any time he caused any type of trouble, all he received were glares and disapproving looks from others, later to be followed by a lecture and punishment from his mother. Instead, he ran through the guild, chasing others, or being chased. As he looked back, he couldn't help but think of how nice it actually felt to not be the only one to cause a mess or chaos. He actually laughed out loud as he spotted a few Pokemon in the distance and decided to give chase.

After Berry got hit by Spooks, she joined up with Dust to tag as many Pokemon as possible. Using her sensory antennae, Berry was able to instruct Dust where the last few un-tagged Pokemon were hiding. Even though it was a silly game, Dust suddenly realized how good of a training exercise this was. Avoiding enemy attacks, using his partner's abilities to track down hidden Pokemon, learning how to use his own danger senses to alert himself to incoming danger. It wasn't every day one would realize a game of tag would come in handy as training. Dust also felt so good to be able to freeze Grant's legs with Ice Beam as the Grovyle didn't expect them to be coming behind him, it caught him by surprise enough for Dust to not only tag Grant, but also tackle him as a bit of payback.

Dust was actually enjoying this game and was hoping that it would last forever, but all good things must come to an end.

"WHAT IS GOING ON HERE!?" A new voice shouted through the guild, one that was even more fearsome than Chihiro's.

Everyone stopped what they were doing, even Chihiro, who seemed to recognize who the voice belongs to. Everyone looked to see Carrie standing by the guild entrance, clearly mad at seeing the chaos happening. She spotted Chihiro and walked right up to her.

"I leave for one hour and I return to see the guild is a mess and it's guild leader launching her grandkids at the members!" Carries shook a disapproving claw at Chihiro, despite her being the Guild Master.

Chihiro gave a nervous chuckle. "Aww, come on Carrie, no need to get _Carrie-d_ away about this. It was for… an interesting training exercise for all our Normal Ranks, they do need to learn to dodge enemy Pokemon after all."

Carrie's right eye twitched at Chihiro's pun, clearly not finding any humor in it. She turned to face everyone, and with a booming voice she shouted out loud. "THIS GAME IS OVER! I WANT EVERYONE TO START CLEANING THIS INSTANT!"

Everyone cringed, nobody argued, however, as they all quickly started to get to cleaning. Dust and Berry quickly started to pick up some broken debris from the game.

"Once the cleaning is finished, I will be hiring construction workers to remodel the guild… again. This is the third time this year, can we please go on an entire year without needing to remodel the guild?" The Kangaskhan sighed before she looked over at Chihiro. "This time the payment is coming out of _your_ bank account, Chihiro."

Chihiro didn't seem too bothered by that and let out a laugh. "You know as well as I that the members will get stressed from time to time. Better to let all that pent up energy out than trying to bottle it in. Besides, you do have to admit it was a good training exercise if not a bit crude."

Carrie sighed as she shook her head. "Well next time you decide to do a training exercise, at least inform me so we can better prepare our members."

"Hey, in my defense, this was already going on way before I came back," Chihiro pointed out. "I assumed my kids started a game of tag, and it somehow escalated into this chaos I came back to? Maybe you should've kept a closer eye on them. You know how… irresponsible Brody can be, and Berry is still a child herself."

Carrie was fuming and it looked like she was about to say something back. But instead she held it in and let out a long deep breath, calming herself down. She turned around and decided to turn all her pent up anger towards cleaning the guild. Chihiro just chuckled.

Upon hearing their conversation, Dust wondered how often this sort of thing happened in this guild, and why the Guild Master was okay with it. Dust remembered hearing that the Unity Guild was known as the outcast guild, and he was starting to see why, it wasn't because it was weak, it was because it didn't follow most of the conventional rules. It accepted any and all Pokemon, it allowed them to be chaotic and wreck things, and while there were punishments for breaking the rules, they were usually light depending on the intention.

Dust took a moment to stare at everyone in the guild, being both amazed and shocked at today's turn of events. One thing was for sure, his mother would be having a Miltank if she saw this. While he still wished to gain Gold Rank and return to his guild, this was the one time he was glad that he wasn't back, knowing full well how things would've turned out if this happened at his old guild. Instead, he smiled as he went back to picking up debris, enjoying all the craziness this guild had.

Dust looked at his partner for a moment, seeing that she was trying to lift up a heavy piece of wood with her antennae. Dust walked over to her to help her pick it up and put it into the pile of other pieces of wood for recycling or trash. Berry gave a grateful nod to Dust, making Dust smile. For a moment, after everything that happened today, Dust was able to forget about all his worries and all the troubles that was on his mind. Instead he was able to appreciate being a part of the Unity Guild, of the time he spent with some of the members, and was grateful for having a partner like Berry.

* * *

**Guest #1****: DarkFoxKit:** Yes, Kura is a reference to Kurama from Naruto. It's the normal Fire type Ninetales, if it was the Alolan Ninetales, we would've said otherwise.  
Yes, Dust's mother, Eclipse, did have a partner who is also her mate.

**FoxyKhai0209****: Travelling Master: **Well glad to know that you find our story interesting. Also really glad to know that through our story we've been able to help you with learning new words and such. And always interested in hearing your ideas, curious to see what you have to share.

**Greatest Guy****: DarkFoxKit:** Dragon squad? What?

Shab was something I came up with remembering how Feebas is described to be Shabby, and neither Dust nor Berry knows what Feebas evolves into. Feebee is a female name, the Feebas is a male, it wouldn't have fit.

What was a Danny Phantom reference? If you're going to ask something like that, you need to quote what you think is a reference.

**Chihiro: **Then you better _Dust _off those reading glasses, especially after what happened today. I promise that you will _Absol_utely enjoy what these two authors have planned so far. Just thinking about it makes me _Berry_ excited. Oh, I have to _Grant_ you some props on your puns, keep this up and I'm sure you'll be able to _Carrie _all the jokes around here.

**DarkFoxKit:** Enough with the puns! How do you keep getting in here? I thought Dust was the one who broke the fourth wall!

**Chihiro: **Deary, as long as there is a pun, I'll be there. See you next time! ***She then vanishes before we could question her further***

**Travelling Master: **Well looks like this is now going to become a regular thing.

**ArcherAmpharos****: Travelling Master: **Yup, and Feebas joining does fit well with the team name. And won't go into much spoilers, but as Chihiro explained before, the tournament will be having other guilds participating, so when that time comes, be expecting to see a lot of Pokemon.

**DarkFoxKit:** I always thought the way how the rank ups were handled in the games were boring. There was no fanfare or any acknowledgement to your new rank. You just get a rank up when you have enough points, have some benefits like a bigger storage, or get some good items, but otherwise, there was hardly any acknowledgement about it. I thought it'd be fun to make it more integrated into the story.

**Guest #2****: DarkFoxKit:** Hehehe, Shab and Berry's interaction is going to be interesting, I'll say that.

I do like the more advanced AI, though I can't say I like how the recruitment was handled in Pokemon Mystery Dungeon DX. I don't like having to get through a dungeon, especially a long one, with 9 Pokemon following me. I can't tell you how annoying it was when someone at the back decided to attack a wild Pokemon. It's also annoying when I'm trying to recruit a Pokemon, and the Pokemon behind me took the kill with a snipe shot. The leader has to be the one to deliver the final blow to get a chance at recruiting a Pokemon, and the snipe shots, while helpful, can be a detriment to that. I can turn off the moves, but then I'll have to keep doing that every time I try to recruit a Pokemon. And I feel like you get hungry quicker in this game, I'm using up a lot more Apples than usual, unless I have a Pokemon with the Rare Quality Small Stomach or Food Finder. But otherwise, the game is still better than the original in my opinion, just needed a few more tweaks with the recruit system.

I do enjoy actually seeing what the items look like instead of the generic seed, blue scarf, teal orb that the overworld shows. Some of the designs are really neat or weird looking, and I love it.

Yeah, I found out the Strong Foes can be shiny, but it's a shame that only those can be shiny. I'd rather all Pokemon had a chance of being shiny. But I suppose it's only the first step. Hopefully this means that there will be more Pokemon Mystery Dungeon games in the future, and they'll start implementing shinies more.

**Onyx Bolt****: Travelling Master: **Yeah, they do tend to give off that type of attitude. Unfortunately about every guild has members kinda like them. But despite their attitude, in the end, they are all crusaders. This is actually pretty similar to how life is too. There are times in your job that you'll be forced to work with those that you don't get along with and it's out of our control. Trust me, I've had my fair share of co-workers who have gotten on my nerves before. The best thing we can do is choose how we go through our day, because in the end, all that truly matters is you and how you view yourself. Keep a positive attitude and work the best that you can.

**DarkFoxKit:** Great pep-talk there, T.M. Though I did like how Berry pulverized one of them with Dragon Breath too. :3

**Travelling Master: **Me too.

**GUEST #3****: Travelling Master: **Okay...first off, that is a pretty big conspiracy theory. Not a bad one either. But, I think we might have mentioned this towards the beginning of this story, but none of the characters here have any relation to DarkFoxKit's story, the Child of Mew. But I can't deny that if it were, your theory might actually have been pretty spot on. I can honestly see most of what you said connecting.

Crimson the Zoroark is his own character, and we do have plans for him and secrets, but nothing relating to Trixie. Do like the idea that all the god Pokemon are treating this like a game, so major props to you for thinking of that. Especially like the idea behind the whole death and Nuzlocke, not something I ever thought of, but it is an interesting thought.

**Rainbow Dawn****: DarkFoxKit: **Yeah, Milotic is one of my favorite Water types, and I figured Dust and Berry could use a good Water type on their team, especially since their team name is Night Tide.

**Guest #4: Travelling Master: **Uh, different chapter from today's, but you're not wrong. Dust was someone Giratina was not expecting. And if Dust did have his ways, he'd probably wouldn't have stopped asking Giratina all sorts of other questions. But alas, their time was short.


	15. Chapter 15: The Kidnapping

**DarkFoxKit:** TM? What are you doing? Why are you on the Switch?

**Traveling Master: **Oh, nothing really, just downloading a game. I've been thinking about this game for a while now, whether I should get it or not and finally decided to get it.

**DarkFoxKit:** Oh? What game is that?

**Traveling Master: **Animal Crossing. Never played it before, but scene clips of videos of all it's past games, thought I give this one a shot...Um… DF? Are you okay? Why are you looking at me like that?

**DarkFoxKit: *Is vibrating*** I'M SO PROUD OF YOU! ***pounces TM in a hug***

**Traveling Master: **What the?! DF?! What are you doing? It's just a game!

**DarkFoxKit:** It's more than just a game! IT'S LIFE!

**Dust:** I think this whole virus thing and being locked indoors has gotten to her.

**Traveling Master: **Dust, how do you even know about the… you know what, nevermind. Anyways, looks like I'll be waiting a bit for the game to download, so how about we get on with the story then. Shall we?

**DarkFoxKit:** OKAY! OwO

* * *

**Chapter 15: The Kidnapping**

Dust smiled as he walked into the guild, with Berry on his back. They had just rescued a lost Psyduck from the Seashell Beach dungeon.

"Thank you both for rescuing me. If my message hadn't gotten to a guild, I didn't know what I would've done," Psyduck said in a grateful tone.

"Happy to be of service," Dust returned the gratitude. "Though, how did you end up in the Mystery Dungeon in the first place?"

The Psyduck shrugged before answering. "I don't know. I just remember having a horrible headache while I was drifting in the ocean, and found myself lost in a Mystery Dungeon."

"Mystery Dungeons do tend to swallow up those who wander there," Berry noted.

Dust started to ponder about Psyduck's recent predicament. "That does raise some questions. Do Mystery Dungeons have different effects on others? Or do all Pokemon unfortunate enough to end up getting stuck in a dungeon experience headaches similar to Psyduck? Maybe it depends on the type of dungeon and location. Would a more dangerous, high leveled dungeon have a stronger effect, or maybe it depends on the Pokemon themselves."

"It's hard to say, that's why Mystery Dungeons are so mysterious. But they say if you get lost in there, it wears on your psyche, and you might even go feral after a while," Berry remarked.

"Regardless, I'm glad you were able to rescue me before that became a problem," Psyduck sighed in relief as he stood in front of the mission board. "Well, now that we're here, I'll be giving you your reward for saving me."

The Psyduck gave Dust a bag of 100 Poke, and a bottle of Protein.

"I know it isn't much. I lost most of my Poke in the dungeon," Psyduck admitted. "But that bottle of Protein is said to make your physical attacks stronger. But if you're not interested in that, you could always sell it. Kecleon usually pay a pretty good price for one of those."

This reminded Dust that he still had that bottle of Calcium he had put away in Carrie's storage. He recalled how he wanted to perform some tests with the Calcium, and now that they had Protein, he was getting more excited just thinking about it.

"Oh, I'm sure we will put it to good use," Dust smiled while he put the Protein and Poke in his bag.

"Thanks again, I'll be more careful next time," Psyduck said before he waddled away.

"Another mission complete. Though we missed out on a D Rank mission today due to there being… none for us… hopefully we'll be able to take on our first D Rank mission tomorrow," Berry said.

"Hopefully. The more missions we complete, the sooner we can raise our ranks," Dust replied. "Now since we've finished today's mission, I'll drop you off to babysit while I will be continuing my research. Never really had a chance to finish my studies yesterday, on account of the game of tag we all did."

Berry chuckled sheepishly. "Let's hope the children don't decide to play another game of tag today. I'm surprised that we still even have a guild hall. The construction is pretty fast at least."

Dust took a moment to look around him. "Considering that apparently this is a normal occurrence, I'm sure the construction workers have plenty of experience dealing with this guild."

The Goomy nodded. "Let's just hope it doesn't happen… too often. Could you drop me off at Chihiro's office before you go back to the Research Lab?"

Dust nodded before heading towards Chihiro office. It wasn't long until they finally reached their destination. Dust stopped in front of the door before knocking, hearing some commotion coming from within. Dust and Berry looked at each other, both curious as to what is happening inside.

Berry suddenly stiffened. "Oh no…"

"What?" Dust asked, not really sensing any immediate danger. "Is it the Crimson Raiders?"

"No… but…" Berry hesitated. "... You should go to the Research Lab." _I don't want you getting involved with this again. Hopefully they'll leave me alone since I have to babysit._

"Oh… well if you insist." Dust said as Berry climbed off his back. He was curious by her mood suddenly changing. "Are you sure you don't want me to at least stick around for a bit?"

"Yeah… don't worry, I'll be fine," Berry assured. "I'll see you later, Dust."

"Alright then...You take care Berry," Dust waved goodbye before turning to leave to the Research Lab.

When Berry made sure Dust was out of sight, she turned to the door, sighing, before she opened it and slithered inside.

The Goomy saw Brody was already here, not that she was surprised since he was usually in the guild all day, but the other two Pokemon who were with him is what made her nervous. _What are _they _doing here?_

"You know, when you told us that you were being punished, this was not what I imagined." A familiar Grovyle chuckled a bit.

"I honestly thought you would've gotten a worse punishment," A Charmeleon agreed as he leaned against the wall. He then noticed Berry enter the room and turned his attention towards her. "Oh, it's you!...I don't think we got your name from last time."

Berry stiffened at suddenly being addressed. She only semi-blacked out the last time she had one of her outbursts, but she did remember engulfing the Charmeleon and Grovyle in her Dragon Breath attack.

"Berry…" Berry nervously said.

The Charmeleon gave Berry a confused look. "Uh, no thank you, I ate earlier today. Though if you're offering later I wouldn't mind some."

"Does it look like the fair maiden has any berries on her?" Brody huffed. "That's her name, Al! Don't be so rude to her."

"Oh." Al replied with a surprised look. "My bad...Will you have berries later?"

"Enough with the berries, Al," The Grovyle walked up and smacked Al on the side of his head.

Al rubbed his head while glaring at the Grovyle. "Grant, I was just asking. No need to smack my head."

While Al and Grant were talking, Berry slithered over to Brody.

"You know these two?" Berry questioned the Lucario.

Brody gave a sheepish smile. "I do, they are my teammates that I mentioned before. I know they can be very...extreme at times, but they are good friends of mine. Have you met them before?"

Berry was surprised to learn Brody actually had a team, she thought he was just a cook in the cafeteria with a Milcry for an assistant. "I didn't know you were a Crusader. But to answer your question, yes, I have… during that chaotic game of tag the other day. That Charmeleon… Al, was it? He tried to barbecue me and Dust. Then that Grovyle, Grant, right? He seemed to be pretty determined to challenge me to a battle."

Brody sighed as he closed his eyes. "That does sound like something they would do. I'm sorry for the trouble they put you through, no male should ever treat a lady as such. If you will excuse me for a moment."

Brody then turned towards his teammates who were now arguing about berries. With swift movements, he delivered two hard blows to each of their heads, leaving a sizable bruise. Berry couldn't help but sweatdrop at this.

"What the heck, Brody?!" Grant shouted.

"That's for attacking Berry for no reason!" Brody chided.

"But we were just playing tag. I figured we can use attacks after you hit us with Aura Sphere." Al pointed out while gently rubbing his bruise.

_What? Who plays tag with actual attacks? … Were_ they _the ones who started that chaos?_ Berry observed with a slight frown.

Brody was about to lecture them more but then paused, realizing that in a way he gave his teammates a reason to start attacking others. "... Okay, that was my mistake, I'll admit. I just… assumed you knew how to play tag. I only attacked you two because it's what we usually do to each other."

_What kind of team attack each other? How do they go on missions if they're always hitting each other?_ Berry questioned to herself, not understanding this team's logic.

"I personally didn't care about the game, all I wanted to do was find you and give you a beating," Grant pointed out. "By the time I ran into that Absol and his partner, everyone was already attacking each other. I assumed it was an all out brawl."

Brody and Grant turned to Al.

"How many Pokemon did you attack?" Grant asked the Charmeleon.

Al paused as he counted the number of Pokemon he _tagged_ yesterday by using his claws. After counting past six, he just shrugged. "Lost count after six. Never really played the game before, I just assumed those were the rules."

_Why is he acting so casually to attacking his fellow guildmates like it was just a part of the game? No wonder everyone became mixed up on what game we were actually playing._ Berry sighed.

"This is why we can't take our eyes off you for a minute, Al!" Grant grumbled. "Seems Team Destruct striked again, eh Brody?"

'_Team Destruct'? Is that their team name?_ Berry blinked.

"I really wish we could change our name," Brody shook his head before turning to Al. "When I said our team name should be Team Destruct, I meant it as a joke!"

"Instead, we now have a pretty awesome name, so I call that a win," Al smiled.

"Um…" Berry started, causing everyone's attention to draw to her as though they just remembered she was in the room. "Carrie is going to be here soon with the kids, so… are you two… going to stick around or leave soon?"

"Are you kidding me? No way am I gonna miss this," Al chuckled.

"And since he's here, I'm gonna stick around to make sure he doesn't burn anything," Grant grunted. "Besides, I'm still annoyed that Brody cost us our chance to enter the tournament with the stunt he pulled. Might as well enjoy watching his punishment too."

Berry raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean he cost you the chance to enter the tournament?"

"He means an agreement between me and their team," Chihiro answered as she entered the room. "Berry, glad to see you here, I take it your mission was a success?"

"Yeah, it was," Berry confirmed as she turned to the guild master. "What was the agreement?"

Chihiro chuckled a bit as she gave Team Destruct a brief glance. "Well as you have seen for yourself, those three have a knack for causing all sorts of trouble. While all exceptionally skilled, each of them are equally reckless. So before they could enter the tournament, they have to go through a month without causing any serious damage or destruction."

"And we were so close until that knucklehead ruined it for us," Grant added.

"Don't forget, he did it for a female too," Al added.

Berry frowned, feeling guilty about that. "That was my fault though, I pretty much guilt him into helping me. And, for the record, he didn't cause any actual damages or destruction until you two came along…"

"She does have a point," Al said. "Guess it must have been something pretty serious if you got him to help you. Though I do remember him doing much crazier things before. Like that time he almost got killed by that Typlosion. He was pretty mad when he saw Brody flirting with his mate."

Grant sighed as he rubbed the top of his head and his leaf. "When I heard that Brody was being punished for breaking the rules, I had assumed he destroyed or literally broke something in the guild."

"This is why communication is key when working as a team," Chihiro remarked. "Or perhaps you let a Klefki hold on to your key of communication, and that's why you always end up being stuck at Bronze Rank. Oooh, that one was a good one."

"... Guild Master…" Berry said quietly. "Are you sure it's wise to let your grandkids be so close to… um… Team Destruct? I mean yesterday they turned an innocent game of tag into an all out brawl."

The Dragapault smirked. "I am well aware of their unique ability of attracting chaos from time to time, but Carrie will be keeping a close eye on them. I'm sure they will behave under Carrie's watchful eyes, isn't that right boys?"

All three members of Team Destruct immediately flinched, recalling the warnings Carrie gave them before. Even Grant, who just looked away in an attempt to hide his reaction was still a bit shaken up. Chihiro laughed at their reaction, finding amusement from them.

"Right," All three members replied at the same time.

"See, you got nothing to worry about." Chihiro assured Berry.

_Starting to see why Dragon types are so scary and revered._ Berry sweatdropped.

"Oh, I think I heard Carrie coming," Chihiro remarked before she floated to the door.

Grant gave an analyzing look at Berry, which made the Goomy nervous.

"... What?" Berry asked, seeing the Grovyle's studying expression.

"Guild Master," Grant called out to Chihiro while still looking at Berry. "How long until Brody and Berry get to stop for the day?"

"Well it normally depends on how busy me and Carrie are," Chihiro answered. "Usually later in the evening is when we let them go."

Grant smiled after hearing Chihiro's answer. "Good to know. Berry, hope you're not too tired after watching those kids. I still want that match. Especially after seeing that attack you used on me and Al."

Berry stiffed at that, though Grant didn't seem to notice. _What am I supposed to say to that? Saying I'm not strong would just make me seem like a liar now. Stupid outbursts!_ "O-oh… well… you know… I… have to check in with my partner and all that after I babysit…"

"Oh, mind if I tag along?" Al jumped in. "Gotta say, was pretty impressed by that maneuver that Absol pulled. He seems like an interesting fellow."

Berry was starting to sweat now. But thankfully for the nervous Goomy, Carrie came into the office, having Chloe, Phantom, and Spooks in her pouch.

"Oh, look at that, it's Team Destruct. No wonder our game of tag turned out the way it did yesterday," Spooks chuckled.

"Are they going to babysit us today too?" Chloe questioned.

"Actually, now that you ask we…" Al stopped himself after seeing the death glare from Carrie, causing the Charmeleon to gulp. "Actually me and Grant were just going to watch. Just that, no babysitting whatsoever."

"Watching is perfectly fine~" Carrie smiled a deadly sweet smile.

"Well, well, well… this is going to be fun~" Phantom smirked.

* * *

Other than the first day, the babysitting went by without much trouble for the week. Carrie was helping out with the babysitting so there wouldn't be anymore incidents like the chaotic game of tag on the first day. Berry was pretty good at being nurturing once she understood what she needed to do. She enjoyed playing with the kids herself when they weren't playing tag. The kids like playing with her because her body was so squishy, and they weren't gross out by her slime like most Pokemon would be. Though Berry was concerned about the toxins in her slime, Carrie reassured her that Dr. Perfume did an analysis on her slime when he cured Dust, her toxins are only deadly if they had a lot of her slime put on them or consumed for a long period of time. Small doses were pretty much harmless.

Brody was surprisingly handling himself pretty well. He played with the children, making sure to be careful around them. As well, he would offer to cook them their meals, making sure that each child, including Berry and Carrie got a meal meant for them. For the first few days his teammates would watch, occasionally joke about Brody's punishment, but after the second day, they had decided to leave Brody be, much to the relief of Berry. She was actually impressed by how well Brody would handle the children, but there were times she also had to keep an eye on him. More than once she found herself helping Brody after he had an accident. Sometimes he would suddenly trip while carrying a tray of food, other times, out of nowhere a loose object would fall off one of the shelves, landing right on top of the Lucario's head. She didn't know if he was just unlucky or a bit more on the clumsy side.

Of course, there were also Berry's daily missions she had with Dust. Though none of them were difficult to do. They did their first D Rank mission pretty easily, which was to rescue another Pokemon in a Mystery Dungeon that was considered to be harder and longer than E Rank Mystery Dungeons, but nothing they couldn't handle at this point. Berry would sometimes see Dust going to the Dojo, which didn't surprise the Goomy as she remembered Dust wanting to get stronger to prove Team Crimson Raiders that he is and will be strong. Berry also couldn't help but wonder if part of it was her fault due to her outbursts.

Berry, however, had gotten some training of her own, not for combat, but for stealth. The Goomy learned how to hide in strange places whenever Grant was trying to look for her to spar with her after she and Brody finished babysitting for the day. Once Grant finally had to go to sleep for the night, Berry could relax before heading back to her room for the night as well. Dust did question why she came back so late, and Berry explained how Grant had this weird obsession with wanting to spar with her.

Neither of Team Night Tide had seen Team Crimson Raiders since before that game of tag at the beginning of the week. Which was fine for the both of them, they weren't in any mood to deal with Crimson or Blizza for a while.

Finally, the last day of Berry and Brody's punishment was upon them. Only about ten minutes into babysitting Phantom, Spooks, and Chloe, and Carrie got an emergency call. A Kecleon had come by, asking for Carrie. Berry recognized the Kecleon as one of the shop owners from when she and Dust went to their shop. After a few minutes Carrie returned, having a concerned look on her face.

"Is everything alright?" Berry asked in concern.

Carrie put on a friendly smile, not wanting to worry the children. "Everything is fine, but something has come up. I need to check on my shop, but I should be back shortly. Will you two be okay to watch the children on your own for a bit?"

"Don't worry, Mrs. Carrie, we'll be fine," Brody assured. "Right, Berry?"

"Yeah, we should be. I doubt there's going to be another game of tag incident like the first day," Berry answered.

"I hope not," Carrie slightly chuckled. "I don't think the guild could survive another game of tag. Chloe."

"Yes Mommy?" Chloe answered as she walked up to her mother.

Carrie knelt down and gave her daughter a hug. "Mommy is going to be back soon. While I'm gone, make sure to listen to Berry and Brody."

Chloe smiled as she hugged her mother back. "I will, Mommy."

Carrie let go of her daughter before looking at Phantom and Spooks. "Same goes for you two, Brody and Berry will take care of you while I'm gone. Now take care, I'll return as soon as I can."

"We'll see you later Auntie Carrie!" Phantom waved.

"We'll stay safe, Auntie Carrie!" Spooke assured.

When Carrie left, Berry thought about how they always stayed in the guild to take care of the kids, and she decided it might be better to go out for some fresh air this time.

"Hey, speaking of leaving the guild for the time being… would you three be alright with going out into White Leaf Town today?" Berry suggested. "We've always just been inside the guild every day of the week when we were babysitting you, so a change of scenery would do us some good."

"Yeah!" All three children shouted cheerfully.

"Are you okay with that, Brody?" The Goomy asked the Lucario.

"I have no objection to such a brilliant idea coming from such a brilliant lady such as yourself," Brody replied.

Although Berry had been babysitting for a week with Brody now, she still couldn't quite get used to the compliments Brody gives her, especially since she didn't believe the compliments herself. But she appreciated not being called ugly or a variant comment on how weird she looked.

"Then it's unanimous, let's go to White Lead Town." Berry smiled. "Maybe we might find something nice on sale that we can afford."

Brody started to lead the way, since he was the oldest and the tallest. Chloe, Phantom, and Spooks followed, with Berry lagging behind a bit. Berry frowned a little, being reminded how slow she was compared to most other Pokemon, and why she always had to ride on Dust to get anywhere faster than a Slugma's pace. The Goomy could move faster by hopping, but she didn't like having to continuously hop to move, it tired her out quickly, and she was no Buneary or Spoink.

The small group left the guild and headed into White Leaf Town. The town was as lively as ever. As soon as they got into town, many adult Pokemon were cooing at the children. Two Pokemon decided they wanted to get a closer look. Brody instantly perked up when he saw a Lopunny and Nidoqueen walking towards them.

"Aww, they are so adorable!" The Lopunny cooed, mostly looking at Chloe.

"They sure are," The Nidoqueen added. She then turned her gaze towards Brody while giving him a friendly smile. "Are one of these your children?"

Brody chuckled a bit. "No, I'm just babysitting them."

"Oh wow," Lopunny looked up in amazement. "To look after four children at the same time, you must be very good with children."

_Wait… FOUR!?_ Berry realized before she quickly came up to the front despite her slow pace. "Hey, excuse me, but I'm not one of the children he's babysitting. I'm actually helping him babysit these three."

"Aww, isn't that adorable? She's trying to act like a grown up and be responsible," Lopunny giggled.

"I'm pretty sure she means it," The Nidoqueen spoke up. "We can't judge how old a Pokemon is by looks alone sometimes, especially if we're not familiar with their species. We apologize little one."

"It's… fine. My name is Berry by the way," Berry stated. _It's awkward to be called 'little one', especially when there are actual little ones here._

"Still," The Nidoqueen spoke up again. "My friend is right, you seem to be very good with children. I'm surprised that you don't have any of your own."

Without warning, Brody grabbed the Nidoqueen's claws while getting down on one knee. "Only a fair maiden as yourself could see such potential and beauty in others. It's true, I have no children of my own, for I have yet to find my one true love. But perhaps this is the day when I finally do. Perhaps together we can have a wonderful future."

The Nidoqueen stared in shock for a moment, while the Lopunny looked in amusement. The Nidoqueen gave a sheepish chuckle.

"Well, you… certainly come on… boldly," Nidoqueen chuckled. "But… I should warn you… I'm a married girl."

Berry, Phantom, Spooks, and Chloe all backed away as a shadow started to tower over Brody, who was too shocked to even notice.

"And what do you think you're doing with my wife?!" The deep rough voice shouted at Brody, causing him to recover from his recent shock.

Brody quickly got up as he turned around to see an angry Nidoking towering over him. "Uh...well you see-"

Brody never got the chance to explain as the Nidoking ended up using a Focus Punch on the Lucario. The blow sent Brody flying into the air some distance. Berry and the others were shocked at what Nidoking did, while he just had a proud look on his face.

"Honestly, you didn't have to punch the Lucario like that. Especially since now the kids are without their guardian!" Nidoqueen huffed at her husband. "And not to mention you also probably scared the little ones with that stunt."

Nidoking was shocked and confused by what she said. He then noticed Chloe, Phantom, and Spooks were all hiding behind Berry. He gave a sheepish smile. "Oh...Uh...Sorry, I didn't realize he was watching over these children."

"Well, you always did have a problem with being just a smidge bit overprotective with your wife," Lopunny chuckled.

"Something we'll need to work on before we have children of our own," Nidoqueen added.

"Aww, but honey buns, he was trying to propose to you, how was I supposed to react?" Nidoking whined.

"By acting civil and politely yet firmly tell him to back off instead of acting like a wild brute?" Nidoqueen chastised.

The Lopunny walked up to Berry while Nidoqueen and Nidoking were still talking. She crouched low while giving an apologetic smile. "Sorry about what happened to your friend. You'd be surprised by how often her husband overreacts."

Berry gave a small chuckle. "I get the feeling Brody gets this treatment a lot… we'll go find him though. I don't think he fell too far."

"I saw him land somewhere around there," Lopunny pointed towards the northside of the town. "Hope he's okay. Good luck finding him."

"Thank you," Berry said gratefully. "Come along, kids."

Berry slithered along. Chloe, Spooks, and Phantom had to move slowly so they didn't go past their only guardian left.

"You know, I wonder if the Pokemon I marry one day would be as overprotective as that," Chloe wondered. "It would be worrisome if my future husband would beat up anyone who tries to flirt with me."

"Aren't you a little too young to be worrying about marriage?" Berry asked.

"Maybe," Chloe replied. "But what about you? Aren't you old enough to start thinking about marriage?"

"Oh!" Phantom joined in, curious by the question. "Yeah Berry, you planning on finding someone to marry one day? And then have children so we can play with them?!"

"Eew, why do you have to talk about marriage?" Spooks grumbled.

Berry was blushing hotly. "N-no! I have no plans on finding someone to marry or have kids of my own! I'm only a teenager after all!"

"What?!" All three shouted at the same time.

"I thought you were really old." Chloe said. "Isn't that why Dust carried you all the time?"

Berry deadpanned at that comment, she turned to the baby Kangaskhan. "How old did you think I was? Dust doesn't carry me because I'm old, he carries me because it would get us to places faster."

"Ooooooh," Chloe realized.

"Yeah, I mean you are pretty slow… no offense," Spooks agreed.

"I just thought she was slow because she was old," Chloe admitted.

"Grandma's pretty old, but she never looks old," Phantom remarked.

Berry grumbled as she decided to turn around and continue to slither. "Well, I'm not old, I'm like… 16 years old."

"16? But doesn't that mean you could get married if you wanted too?" Chloe asked.

"Again with the marriage," Spooks huffed.

"Oooh, who would be your special mon?~" Phantom giggled.

"I don't have a 'special mon', nor am I interested in marriage," Berry answered, trying not to blush anymore than she already was.

"What about Dust? You went on that solo mission just for him, didn't you? That's gotta be true love!" Chloe smiled.

Berry wanted to just disappear. "Dust is my partner, not my future husband. Besides, even if I did marry him, we couldn't have kids anyways because we're not… you know… _compatible_."

"Compatible? What do you mean?" Phantom asked.

"Eww, first marriage and now this?!" Spooks stuck out his tongue in disgust. "Can we talk about something else please?"

"I have to agree with Spooks, this is something you kids should learn from your parents or grandparents, not from me," Berry quickly explained. "Now I need to focus so I can try to get a sense on where Brody is."

As the Goomy twitched her antennae, she noticed a familiar presence nearby. She couldn't help but smile. _I guess Dust decided to come to town to buy stuff for his experiments._

As much as Berry wanted to talk to Dust, she had to focus on finding Brody. It didn't take long for her to realize that Brody was on the outskirts of town. "Wow, that Nidoking can sure pack a punch… he knocked Brody all the way on the outskirts of town."

The Goomy started to slither with the three children following her.

"Hey, maybe I can carry you like how Dust carries you?" Chloe suggested after a while.

"No, not unless you have a Pecha Scarf or Pecha Berry, besides, I'm about the same size as you," Berry pointed out.

"We can always visit my mom's shop after we find Brody," Chloe said. "I'm sure she'll have some Pecha Berries with her."

"No offense, Berry, but you are pretty… uh… slow," Spooks said.

Berry was about to say something when Chloe suddenly picked her up and lifted her over Chloe's head. Berry yelped at suddenly being lifted.

Chloe laughed as she lifted Berry above her, despite the goo dripping on her body. "See, this isn't so bad. Now we can find Brody a lot quicker."

"Yeah, all you have to do is tell us which way to go~" Phantom giggled.

Berry grumbled, feeling embarrassed that a _child_ was carrying her. "Just go north from here."

Chloe smirked. "Okay! Then get ready!"

Before Berry could even ask, the baby Kangaskhan suddenly took off. Chloe was very fast, and Berry yelped, trying not to excrete more goo on Chloe as Chloe ran north at surprising speed. Spooks and Phantom were able to keep up, and they all laughed along the way.

"S-slow down! Y-you'll pass Brody!" Berry shouted when they were on the outskirts of Whtie Leaf Town.

Either they were laughing to much or having too much fun to really hear Berry. As they continued laughing, Berry caught a glimpse of something coming towards them. Berry couldn't get a good look, but thought it might have been Brody coming to meet them. But as the Pokemon got closer, Berry realized that it was pink, not blue, and it was much shorter than Brody.

"Wait! Stop!" Berry yelled.

However, Chloe ended up crashing into this Pokemon, which caused her to let go of Berry. Berry yelped as she was flipping through the air before landing on the ground with a SPLAT. She was disoriented, but she heard Chloe screaming.

"Let go of me!" Chloe shouted at the assailant.

"Sorry kid, but you bumped into me. Looks like someone needs to teach you some manners," The pink, dog like Pokemon sneered at Chloe.

"Chloe!" Spooks and Phantom shouted in alarm.

Berry managed to shake away the disorientation, and saw the Pokemon running off with Chloe. "H-hey! Get back here!"

Berry hopped, trying to chase after the Snubull. Phantom and Spooks tried to attack the Pokemon themselves, but the Pokemon just batted them away like they were annoying Cutifly. Berry tried to fire a Water Gun, but the Pokemon was too far for her Water Gun to reach it. Berry then tried a Dragon Breath attack since it was stronger and could go longer distance. However, much to Berry's shock, the Dragon Breath did absolutely nothing to the Pokemon. The Pokemon just laughed.

"When you're ready to negotiate for this baby's life, meet me in the Phoenix Desert! Don't even think about bringing this child's parent or your Guild Master, or she'll forfeit her life!" The Pokemon threatened.

"No! Stop!" Berry shouted in desperation. "What… what do you want!?"

"Bring me the Syzygy from your guild," The pink dog-like Pokemon shouted. "You have until the end of the day to bring it."

As soon as the Pokemon said that, it ran out of town, heading towards a Mystery Dungeon. Spooks and Phantom frowned before they turned to Berry.

"What… should we do?" Phantom asked.

"Shouldn't we tell Grandma?" Spooks questioned.

"No… you heard that Pokemon, if we tell the Guild Master, they'll kill Chloe." Berry frowned. "But I have no idea what a Syzy… sizzle… Zyz…"

"Syzygy," Spooks helped.

"Yeah, that…" Berry said. "... Well… the Pokemon didn't say I couldn't tell other members of the guild at least. Maybe Dust would know what that is… and I need to let Brody know about this."

"But isn't Dust back at the guild?" Phantom asked.

"No, I sensed him in town earlier," Berry answered. "Let's try to get to him quickly."

Berry slithered for a moment before an idea came to her. She remembered how she used Water Gun to slide past the Goodra before in Waterfall Cavern, she definitely went faster while sliding on the wet surface. Deciding to try that now, Berry used Water Gun to make the road wet, then she had her body slide onto the wet surface.

Berry was now sliding much faster compared to having to slither on the ground before. Phantom and Spooks were barely able to keep up with the Goomy. As they got closer and closer to the edge of town, Berry saw the entrance that led into town. But just as they were almost to the entrance, Berry saw a familiar Absol who happened to stop right at the entrance. Dust had his back towards Berry and the others, so he didn't see Berry sliding towards him at a very fast pace.

"DUUUUUST!" Berry shouted as she was coming in fast without being able to stop.

"Berry?" Dust said, surprised to hear his partner. He turned towards where Berry shouted his name and is shocked to see the Goomy sliding right at him. "Berry?!"

Berry could only yelp before she crashed into the Absol with such force that it knocked Dust right into the ground with Berry on top of his face. Berry's eyes were spiraling a bit. Dust tried to say something, but the best he could do was muffle out some noise. After a few seconds Berry managed to recover, though Dust was still numb from the recent crash.

Berry quickly hopped off of Dust's face. "Sorry, Dust! But we have an emergency! Some pink bull-dog Pokemon kidnapped Chloe!"

Dust got up and shook his head, trying to clear away the pain. "I'm sorry, but I think I misheard you. Did you say that Chloe was just kidnapped?"

"Yes! She was kidnapped! The outlaw that took her went to the Desert Phoenix, they gave a ransom. They said that I have until the end of the day to bring them something called the… um…" Berry looked at Spooks. "What was it called again?"

"Syzygy," Spooks reminded.

"Yeah, that, and I'm not allowed to tell or bring Carrie or the Guild Master," Berry finished explaining. "I don't know what a Syzygy is! And we have to do something!"

"Syzygy?" Dust mumbled to himself with a puzzled look. "But that doesn't make any sense. Why would they want something like that?"

Berry suddenly hopped onto Dust's back. "Explain it to me on the way. Head north to the outskirts of town, we need to let Brody know about this and discuss what we should do. But hurry, if Carrie finds out her child is missing, there's going to be Distortion World!"

"Then best not to waste any more time." Dust replied as he quickly headed north.

"You two stay with us!" Berry said to Phantom and Spooks, who nodded and quickly floated after them.

While Dust was running to the outskirts of town, Berry asked, "So what is a syzygy, Dust?"

"Hmm...well syzygy is…" Dust paused for a second, trying to figure out how to explain it simple. "Think of it like a lunar or solar eclipse. Syzygy is just a word to describe when the sun, moon, and earth are lined up. I was curious about my mother's name, Eclipse, and wanted to learn more about the moon and stars one time. I remember reading about syzygy, but that doesn't explain why the Pokemon wants something like that. You can't physically bring them a syzygy."

"Then maybe what they want isn't literally a syzygy, but an item called a Syzygy?" Berry suggested.

"Perhaps, but from the sound of it, it doesn't look like we have much time to search for some unknown item. We may have to rescue Chloe without retrieving the item." Dust frowned.

Phantom and Spooks looked at each other, they wanted to say something, but weren't sure if they should.

"There's Brody!" Berry pointed out with one of her antennae at a blue and yellow figure that was approaching them.

It didn't take long for Brody to catch up to them. At first Brody was glad to see Berry again, but then noticed the worried look on both her and Dust's face.

"Is everything alright?" Brody asked before realizing that Chloe was missing. "And where's Chloe?"

Berry quickly explained what had happened earlier, about their sudden encounter with the pink dog-like Pokemon, and the demands that they have given them.

"I'm sorry, I tried to catch them but they were too fast for me… not even my Dragon Breath attack was able to slow them down…" Berry apologized.

"No need to apologize, you did your best," Brody comforted.

"If they didn't seem to be fazed by your dragon attack, they must be a Fairy type," Dust noted. "From the way Berry described them, they seem to be a Snubull."

"I see… this is a problem then…" Brody frowned. "Well, not too much of a problem. I am half Steel type, which Fairy types are weak to, but you being a Dark type makes you vulnerable to Fairy types."

"Are you saying we're going to go to the Phoenix Desert to try to rescue Chloe?" Berry asked. "But what if they hurt Chloe or… do something worse if we all show up without their ransom item?"

"I would hate to put any female in harm's way, but we may have to go with a bluff," Brody explained. "So far you are the only one they saw. They don't know that me and Dust will be going with you."

"Ah, I think I know what you're planning," Dust added. "Berry will distract them while you and me look for an opportunity to rescue Chloe."

"Exactly," Brody confirmed.

"Okay, I guess that's better than doing nothing," Berry said. "But what about Phantom and Spooks? We can't take them with us, but if we try to bring them to Carrie to look after, she's going to realize Chloe is missing."

Brody thought about it for a moment before he smirked as an idea came to him.

* * *

"Why would we be looking after two children?" Grant grumbled at Brody.

Dust, Berry, Brody, Phantom, and Spooks were back in the guild, Berry and Brody were able to track down Grant and Al, who were heading towards the Dojo for some training before Brody walked up to them and asked them to watch over Phantom and Spooks.

"I'm pretty sure Carrie made it clear that she didn't want either of us babysitting the children," Al added.

"But if you don't watch them, Carrie is likely to go on a rampage," Brody pointed out. "Please? This is kind of an emergency."

"You can find someone else to do it, watching children is not my specialty," Grant huffed.

"Please?" Berry spoke up as she came on top of Dust's head so Grant and Al could see her easier. "If you watch over Spooks and Phantom while we're gone… I'll spar with you when we get back."

Grant looked at Berry, surprised to hear her say that. He stared at her for a couple of seconds before grinning at her. "Must be quite some kind of emergency if you're willing to spar. Alright, we'll watch over them."

"We are?" Al frowned.

"Yes," The Groyvle answered.

"Oh thank you very much!" Berry smiled before she turned to Spooks and Phantom. "You two stay with them. Make sure they stay out of trouble, alright?"

"What? Shouldn't you be telling _us_ to make sure they stay out of trouble?" Grant asked.

"... No," Berry answered back.

Grant just crossed his arms as he frowned while Al laughed out loud. The two Dreepy were laughing as well.

"I gotta say, she's pretty funny. You got yourself an interesting partner," Al chuckled as he spoke directly to Dust.

Dust smiled back at the Charmeleon. "Yes, she is very interesting. Again, thank you for agreeing to watch over Spooks and Phantom."

"We'll be sure to keep an eye on you two~" Phantom giggled.

"Come on, now that we have the babysitting situated, we better go now before Carrie and Chihiro gets back," Brody quickly said to Dust and Berry.

"Right. Dust, do you have the items necessary for a dungeon exploration in your satchel?" Berry asked as she slid back down to Dust's back and Dust and Brody started hurrying out of the guild.

"I have more than enough supplies. Helps that I had already purchased some items when I was in town earlier today," Dust answered.

"Don't worry, I know where the Phoenix Desert is," Brody spoke up. "Just follow me and we'll get there quickly."

"Don't we need to take a Carriage?" Berry asked as they were rushing out of White Leaf Town.

"Not for this dungeon," Brody explained. "The Phoenix Desert is actually close to Town. It'd be much faster to go on foot than carriage."

Dust recalled back when he left his old guild how the scenery changed. While back home the temperature was quite cool, a nice summer breeze for almost all Pokemon to enjoy, as he got closer to White Leaf Town, the temperature started to rise. _That would explain why it was considerable warming when I got here last time. Make sense that the dungeon would be close to the Town._

Before long, Dust saw that they were now running through a wasteland, it was hotter here, and the air was dryer. Soon, the wasteland began to have sand. And they were now standing in front of an entrance to a Mystery Dungeon.

"This will lead us to the Phoenix Desert. It's a bit similar to Dusk Forest, it starts out easy, but it gets harder the further in you go," Brody explained. "Let us hope the kidnapper didn't go too far in."

Berry was panting a little from the dry and hot air. Dust and Brody were already feeling the added heat from both the sun and their fur. Before entering, Brody turned to face Dust and Berry.

"Before we go in, have either of you gone into a dungeon like this before?" Brody asked. Both Dust and Berry shook their heads, causing the Lucario to sigh a bit. "Okay, some things you should know before we go in. First, try to conserve your energy. We don't know where the kidnapper is and how long it will take to reach them. Try to avoid wild Pokemon as much as possible. Second, make sure to pay attention to your surroundings, especially if the wind starts to pick up. Usually that means a sandstorm is coming and you want to try to find shelter as soon as possible. For now, let me handle any Pokemon that comes our way, you two save up your energy."

Dust frowned. "Maybe I should've bought some Rainy Orbs."

"It doesn't matter now. Just stay close," Brody said. "Now come on, we can't waste too much time."

Dust quickly followed Brody into the dungeon, not noticing that Berry was having a little trouble breathing in the hot, dry air.

* * *

**GUEST #1: ****Traveling Master: **Don't really recall confirming that Otti is Mew, then again it's been a while since we've posted a chapter, so my memory is a little fuzzy. Besides that, I think making theories is always fun, keeps you guessing on how a story might turn out. So no need to apologize for the theories, if any thing, keep them coming. And who knows, some may be right, others way off, or might even give inspiration for some new ideas. Who's to say?

**DarkFoxKit:** Where did we 'confirm' that Otti is Mew? All we did was have her transform a few times to show Dust some Pokemon that he's never seen before. I just want to know why you thought we confirmed Otti was Mew.

**FoxyKhai0209****: DarkFoxKit:** Of course, when you have Team Destruct in the guild, no matter how innocent the game, it's going to get destructive. Then again, when you involve children, and creatures of mass destruction, it was only a matter of time.

**Traveling Master: **And like how Chihiro and Carrie mentioned, you'd be surprised by how often this kind of stuff happens. They already have experience when it comes to fixing and cleaning the guild after some sort of chaotic mess happens. And yes I think we can all relate… We all hate mess...

**Cloud Mask****: Traveling Master: **You can thank Team Destruct for that. They have quite the reputation when it comes to being chaotic.

**Flawless Gem****: DarkFoxKit:** Heh, good, it was a fun and hilarious chapter to write. :3

**Star Cancer****: Traveling Master: **Honestly I don't think we meant for this game to get so hectic. Honestly I'm surprised we even survived from the last chapter, took us forever to fix that broken fourth wall.

**DarkFoxKit:** It just sort of happened. We originally just planned the chaos to be much smaller scaled, where Berry and Brody are trying to find the kids frantically, and it just kinda came out as a much larger scale involving the entire guild.

**Star Leo****: DarkFoxKit:** Yes, yes they do, and according to Chihiro, it wasn't the first time they had to clean up their mess, and it wouldn't be the last time either.

**Greatest Guy****: Traveling Master: **Yup, Dust will always try to find the chance to study any new thing he comes across. Berry's slime is no exception. Same, can't remember much about the dragon squad either.

**Chihiro: **Ah yes, Al sure has a knack to get caught in the _heat_ of the moment, _Grant_ed if he's left alone. Always got to make sure to keep an eye on Team Destruct, that name itself is a dangerous pun.

**Jewel moonstone****: DarkFoxKit:** Yeah, because this sort of stuff happens a lot in the guild, especially with a mischievous, pun-loving Dragapault.

**The Moonfox Collective****: DarkFoxKit:** Heh, Berry always seem to find herself caught up in the most bizarre situations. Guess that's just what happens when you're a main character~

It does seem a bit filler-ish due to the light hearted nature and not a lot of plot going on, though it did introduce Brody's team, and how they work. It also shows how lighthearted Chihiro is.

**Traveling Master: **Yup, with every new chapter we get to learn more and more about our characters. The visions and Dust's ability to sense danger are two seperate things. But Dust's ability to sense danger has grown a lot since being kicked out of his old guild, he didn't really have to worry about any real threats or danger, but now he's been slowly noticing it more and more.

**DarkFoxKit:** Oh, that wasn't my idea, Dust having precognition was all on TM. I didn't even know he had this idea in mind until we got to Giratina.

**Travelling Master: **Yeah, Dust is a very old character of mine. For a long time I struggled trying to figure out how to make a story about him, everything about his background or what the plot should be, always kept changing. But one of the things that always seemed to stuck was having some sort of precognitive time ability thingy… Or something like that. Honestly it's thanks to DF that Dust even has a story at this point. On my own, I don't think this story would've gotten that far.

**Guest #2****: Travelling Master: **Unfortunately, can't go into much details about Dust's father, but as for Eclipse, she didn't just have one partner. There are times when Crusaders would find new partners.

**Guest #3: DarkFoxKit:** Maybe Dust will, maybe he won't, you'll just have to wait and see~


	16. Chapter 16: The Harshness of the Desert

**DarkFoxKit: *Blows her nose in a tissue*** Ugh… in case you were wondering, no, I'm not sick. I just have pollen allergies. I've had this since I was little, and I hate it.

**Traveling Master: **Most of my siblings all have the same allergies, except for me. I guess I got the lucky end of the stick.

**DarkFoxKit:** Yes, yes you are very lucky. I remember when I was in high school. It was torture, not just high school, but any grade I was in, I had to bring boxes of tissues with me. I was constantly blowing my nose, and it didn't help we had to go outside a lot to switch between classes, where the trees with heavy amounts of pollen were spewing. People got annoyed with how often I had to blow my nose, but how do they think I feel about having to keep doing it over and over again? I once ran out of tissues, and I wasn't allowed to leave the classroom until the end of class to go to the bathroom to get more. Spring is my least favorite season due to this. That and all the bees come out, I don't like being around bees or wasps.

**Traveling Master: **Never really had to worry about bees, but wasps can… ARE jerks. They see you and make it their life goal to torture you.

**Dust:** You two have some very weird insects in your world, the only time I had to worry about bee-like Pokemon was when I borrowed some honey from a hive of wild Combee. Now that was chaotic, I can still hear all the screaming guild members. Mine included, but that was after my mother caught me and gave me a very harsh punishment.

**DarkFoxKit:** Honestly, I rather deal with Beedrill and Combee over real life wasps. At least Beedrill and Combee can be reasoned with. Oh, and don't even get me started on what happens when wasps decides to stay near the mailbox. I can never get any mail! How does the mailman do it?

**Traveling Master: **One time when I was a kid, I was mowing the backyard when I suddenly hit something strange. Next thing I knew I see bees starting to fly out, turns out I just mowed over their hive. Luckily I made it inside without getting stung, but that lawnmower was covered with bees.

**DarkFoxKit:** Yeah… I also don't like being hot. So as soon as spring comes, I immediately miss winter. No bugs, it's nice and cold, no mowing the backyard, it's just nice~

**Traveling Master: **While it was weird when I was in the UK, one thing I did appreciate was that surprisingly, there were hardly any bugs. Don't know what's up with that, but wasn't complaining.

**DarkFoxKit:** Lucky. There are bees, mostiqos, and wasps EVERYWHERE here. I rather stay holed up indoors all day.

**Dust:** Shouldn't you two get the story started?

**Traveling Master: **Right… Weird how it's Dust reminding us to do our jobs.

**DarkFoxKit:** Not really, this is his story, so of course he wants us to focus on it. XP ***Grabs another tissue and blows into it***

* * *

**Chapter 16: The Harshness of Phoenix Desert**

**Phoenix Desert 1F**

As soon as Dust entered the dungeon, he could already feel the blazing hot sun on him. Dust was thankful his fur was white, otherwise he would be twice as hot if he had darker colored fur. Berry's body also kept parts of his back cool as well. Regardless, he wasn't looking forward to coming back to another desert-like dungeon anytime soon. As the trio continue through the dungeon, not too many Pokemon seemed to bother them too much. Though Dust was surprised when the ground in front of him suddenly shifted and a Trapinch burst from the ground. Dust was about to fire an Ice Beam but Brody beat him to it by delivering a swift kick to the side of the Pokemon, knocking it away.

"Remember, let me handle the Pokemon, you two need to save your energy," Brody explained once more before taking the lead again.

"R-right…" Dust answered, feeling too hot to really say much other than that.

Brody was looking around, and closed his eyes, trying to use his aura to sense where the Snubbull could be. Unfortunately, the generation dull had hit his kind hard. While Brody could still sense with aura, he couldn't spread out his senses very far. Brody only knew that the Snubbull and Chloe weren't on this floor.

Dust saw a brown ball coming up from the sand, at first he thought he was delirious, but then the ball suddenly uncurled, revealing it to be a Sandshrew. The Sandshrew jumped at Dust quickly, slashing his front fur with a Scratch attack.

"Gah!" Dust shouted as he fired an Ice Beam attack without thinking.

The Sandshrew got hit with the ice attack and promptly became frozen. Dust looked down to see that some of his fur was cut off, but besides that he hadn't taken too much damage.

"Careful! Don't use up all your Ice Beam so quickly," Brody warned. "If you need to attack, use your less draining attacks like Bite."

"Very well," Dust obliged, even though he disliked using Bite.

The two continued on through the desert. Dust was trying his best to avoid as many enemies as possible since he didn't want to use Bite if he didn't have to. Brody was doing a good job at taking out most of the wild Pokemon anyways.

* * *

**Phoenix Desert 3F**

They had managed to get through 2 floors of Phoenix Desert, but things were getting harder from there. Trapinch kept making sand pits that were too easy to fall into. Brody had to either pull Dust out or fire an Aura Sphere at the Trapinch before it could take a bite out of Dust's legs.

Dust noticed that Berry had been quiet since they entered the dungeon, and he was starting to get a little worried.

"Berry?" Dust called out. "Is everything alright? You don't sense some dangerous Pokemon nearby, do you?"

"Too… hot… can't… focus…" Berry answered in a strained tone.

"Let me see." Brody walked towards Dust and Berry to check on them. He noticed how exhausted Berry was despite Dust carrying her the whole time. "Looks like the heat is having a stronger effect on her...You two should go back. I can go after the Snubbull on my own."

"But… but… Chloe…" Berry tried to argue.

"I'm afraid he's right, Berry," Dust spoke up with concern. "You might risk dehydration if we keep going further. Can't really rescue Chloe if our bodies end up collapsing from exhaustion."

"It'll be okay, fair maiden Berry," Brody spoke up with chivalry. "I promise I will find Chloe and bring her back to safety. You just get out of this desert. This is clearly not a very good environment for you."

Berry didn't look too happy about that, but she didn't argue anymore, though Dust wasn't sure if it was because she understood Brody's logic, or she just didn't have the strength to argue. Dust did notice, however, that his back didn't have a lot of goo on it, meaning Berry's body was drying up quickly.

"Sorry Berry, but I'm sure Brody will bring Chloe back. For now, let's focus on getting you back so you can recover." Dust apologetically said before reaching for his badge.

"I will see you two later at the guild," Brody said before he rushed on ahead, moving much faster now that he didn't have to wait for Dust, it was clear the desert's heat didn't bother the Lucario much.

Dust waited until he could no longer see Brody. He looked back at Berry and was surprised to see how pale she was. Not wanting to endanger his partner again, the Absol held his badge, preparing to teleport out of the dungeon with Berry. But just as Dust was about to use the badge, he felt the ground shake beneath him. He tried to keep his footing, but the sand gave away faster than Dust could recover. Next thing Dust knew, the ground had fallen in, with both him and Berry falling with it.

There wasn't just a Trapinch at the bottom, but there were three of them. They created this massive sandpit, and Dust knew he had to do something before he and Berry became Trapinch chow. Berry, despite being mostly out of it, realized they were in danger as well. She opened her mouth to shoot out a Water Gun, and nothing but sprinkles of water came out of her mouth. The sprinkles just ended up dripping on Dust's fur and the sand.

Before, Dust would have been reluctant to use Ice Beam, wanting to save up his energy. But seeing the situation they are currently in, Dust didn't hesitate to fire his ice attack at the bottom. One of the Trapinch saw what was coming and managed to dig away before Dust could fire his Ice Beam, the other two were to slow to react and ended up getting hit by the attack, promptly fainting from the super effective Ice Beam.

The sandpit stopped due to this, and Dust was trying to climb out of it. However, the Trapinch that got away, wasn't too happy that two of its friends were down. It began to climb up towards Dust itself. Since Dust wasn't used to climbing up sand, he kept slipping down, but the Trapinch had no such problems. It came up to Dust and opened its big mouth before clamping it on Dust's back leg. The Trapinch had used Bite, and the only thing that kept Dust from losing his leg right then and there was his type resistant to Bite.

Dust let out a yelp of pain. Berry weakly glared at the Trapinch, since her Water Gun wasn't working, she decided to use Absorb. Ground type like Trapinch was weak to Absorb, and Berry desperately needed the energy. Berry's body glowed green, and since the Trapinch was close enough, its body glowed green as well. Dust could feel the Trapinch's tight hold was starting to loosen.

Dust noticed the parts that got wet from Berry's weakened Water Gun were a lot easier to climb than the dry ones. While still focusing on trying to climb out and withstand the pain in his leg, he managed to call out to Berry.

"Sorry to ask this of you, but if you can, use Water Gun! I'll be able to climb out if the sand is soaked with water!" Dust shouted.

Berry managed to gain back some energy from the Trapinch, and she turned around. Berry took a deep breath and managed to shoot out a more proper Water Gun this time, but it was very small and weak. She soaked up as much sand in front of Dust as she could before her Water Gun turned into sprinkles again.

With the Trapinch weakened from Berry's earlier attack, and the now muddied sand, Dust was able to shake loose the Trapinch and climb out the sandpit. Seeing that Dust and Berry were too much of a struggle, the Trapinch decided not to bother going after them, especially since they had managed to climb out of their trap. Dust was more than happy to see the Trapinch leaving them. He was about to lay on the ground to rest, but remembered Berry's condition and how it was worse than his.

Moving away from the sandpit, just in case the Trapinch decided to come back, Dust took a moment to check on Berry. "How are you doing?"

"Dry…" Berry looked at Dust. "We're… in a very… dry… dry desert… maybe you could… lick me?"

"Lick?!" Dust asked in shock. "I mean, using Bite is one thing, but lick? But we are in a desert...but we have our badges!"

Dust then reached to where he thought is badge was, only to find it missing. He looked around, seeing no traces of it. He checked his bag, just in case but to no avail. A thought then occurred to him and he looked to where the sandpit use to be. He walked towards it, hoping to see any signs of his badge, but the pit itself was gone, already being covered by the desert sand.

"Well this isn't good. Berry, by chance do you have your badge with you?" Dust asked, hoping that she would.

"... No… I left it… in our room… because I thought… we were done with… missions for the day…" Berry answered.

"That is...unfortunate," Dust mumbled to himself.

"Looks like… we'll have to… traverse the dungeon… until we… find an… Escape Orb… or Brody…" Berry weakly stated.

"Looks like it," Dust nodded. But before going, he checked his bag again and was glad to see that their berries managed to survive the encounter with the Trapinch. He grabbed two Oran Berries, putting on in his mouth before holding the other near Berry for her to eat.

Berry didn't even grab the Oran Berry, she just opened her mouth and closed it onto the Berry, and some of Dust's claws. Dust pulled his claws out of Berry's mouth before she quickly swallowed the Oran Berry. She looked a little better, but her body was still dry and pale.

Berry lifted up her head and shot out a stronger looking Water Gun, and let the water sprinkle on both of them. The sprinkles of water allowed Berry's body to get some moist back, and it helped cool Dust down a bit too.

When Berry stopped using Water Gun, she did look a little better. "This should… buy us some time. Now hurry, let's get… to the next floor."

Dust nodded and started forward, hoping to either find an Escape Orb, or Brody.

* * *

**Phoenix Desert 4F**

Despite just being on the 4th floor, Dust already hated the Phoenix Desert. The winds were picking up, that was not a good sign. Brody warned them when the winds began to pick up, a sandstorm was on the way.

"Berry, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but if we don't find the next floor or shelter, we might be in some serious danger," Dust pointed out.

Dust waited for a reply but when he got none he looked back to see Berry was once again exhausted, most likely trying to conserve her energy. Dust was about to speak up again when he noticed behind them, in the distance the wind had gotten stronger and there was a sandstorm heading towards them. Without wasting another second, Dust started running away from the oncoming sand.

Dust, however, stopped when he saw a few large Hippopotas in his way. They gave a lazy yawn at him. It was then Dust remembered that Hippopotas had the ability Sand Stream, which summoned sandstorms. It clicked in Dust's head why there was a sandstorm on this floor now. The sandstorm soon caught up with Dust and Berry, limiting their vision, and making it hard for them to breathe.

"Berry!" Dust managed to shout. "Quick, get in the bag!"

Berry, despite being weakened, and the sandstorm buffeting her, managed to move her antennae. "Move… forward!"

Dust barely caught what Berry had said, but understood enough. Despite having to squint his eyes, Dust managed to keep moving forward, trying to ignore the constant sand flying everywhere, buffeted his body every second.

Then, for a split second, Dust felt something dangerous ahead. Unfortunately, Dust didn't sense it in time before he couldn't move. Gasping, and inhaling some sand, Dust choked a bit, before looking down to see his body was sinking. His heart started racing as he tried to climb out, but the more he struggled, the faster his body sank into the quicksand. He looked back to check on Berry, but the sandstorm made it even difficult to see her. He tried calling out to her, but ended up choking up on more sand.

Dust shut his eyes and held his breath, waiting for the inevitable. But he fell on something that jolted his eyes open. He was still able to breathe. It was dark, wherever they were, but Dust could see fine in the dark. There was sand down here, falling sand from the ceiling. Dust blinked, realizing there was a ceiling. He looked up, seeing that he was under sand. It was also cooler down here, no sandstorm, no sunlight beating down on them.

"Heh… looks like… my hunch was right… there was an underground in this desert…" Berry spoke up from behind Dust.

Dust took a moment to cough out any sand still left in his mouth. "Good thinking too...To think that quicksand...would end up saving us. But how did you know...there was an underground in the quicksand?...It could've easily ended us."

"I sensed life underneath us… during the sandstorm. I was desperate… so I told you to run… towards the nearest quicksand… praying to Lady Mew herself that it would take us underground," Berry explained.

"I must say, I never thought we would end up underground in the middle of a Mystery Dungeon," Dust noted as he started to take in his surroundings.

"The underground is a part of the Mystery Dungeon, at least I think it is, so that means there should also be stairs around here," Berry guessed, recovering a bit from being out of the sun and in a cooler place. "We'll… have to use the stairs… to climb back up to the surface, but… we should also… still be on the same floor."

"Fascinating, it always amazes me on how Mystery Dungeons works. You think you learned all you can about them after exploring them for a month, then suddenly they can still surprise you in a pinch," Dust replied. "If we are lucky, perhaps we might find some water source too."

Dust began to move through Under Phoenix Desert, he hoped that he'll be able to find a water source soon, he was pretty dang parched, but he was mostly worried for Berry since her body felt unnaturally dry on his back. Dust may not know that much about Goomy, but he had learned more about them since he became partners with one, and being this dry was not healthy for her. He could barely feel any goo coming from Berry.

"Dust… I'll be fine," Berry assured, likely noticing the Absol's worry. "Just focus on the mission… saving Chloe should be our top priority."

Dust was surprised to hear that from Berry. "But Brody said that he would handle saving Chloe and that we should focus on getting you out of here."

"... It was… never my intention to leave…" Berry admitted. "But I was… too tired to argue at the time… it was my fault that Chloe got kidnapped… and it's my responsibility."

Dust remained silent for a moment. He understood what Berry said and how she truly wants to rescue Chloe, but he was still worried about his partner. If it wasn't for the fact that he had lost his badge, they would've already been out of the dungeon. Dust sighed before giving his partner a friendly smile.

"Well seeing as we are currently stuck in this dungeon, we can only keep moving forward. And if that means finding Chloe, then so be it," Dust said. "But for now, at least focus on resting, we don't know how long we'll be here underground, or if the next staircase will take us directly back to the surface. Better to recover your energy now while we still have the chance."

Berry didn't say anything, but Dust didn't need her too, he knew that talking would require more energy, and the Goomy didn't need to say anything to acknowledge what her partner said. Dust was thankful he found the stairs leading to the next floor without running into any wild Pokemon.

* * *

**Under Phoenix Desert 5 BF**

Dust had noticed that the stairs lead down instead of up. That meant they were getting deeper underground, rather than going up to the surface. He was a bit concerned that they may not even get back to the surface, but just as how the quicksand from above had saved them earlier, he was sure that this dungeon would still hold some surprises for them.

As Dust and Berry continued through the dungeon floor, Dust would occasionally spot some wild Pokemon in the distance. Luckily they hadn't paid them too much attention, though Dust didn't want to take chances so he made sure to avoid them.

Dust found a few items, but none of them were an Escape Orb, not that Berry would want them to leave without finding Chloe, but he would like one just in case they needed to get out. And Dust was also hoping to find a Rainy Orb, or at least some kind of water source, even desert dwelling Pokemon couldn't live without water forever.

Thankfully for Dust, the wild Pokemon Under Phoenix Desert didn't seem as hostile as the Pokemon above. It was likely they were just too relaxed to care about Dust and Berry.

* * *

**Under Phoenix Desert 7 BF**

The dungeon wasn't too terribly big, which Dust was grateful for, however, when he made it to the 7th bottom floor, there was a sudden maze. The Mystery Dungeon was always a maze, but this felt beyond that. There were holes that lead to different tunnels, several holes, dozens, maybe hundreds of them.

"D-Dust…" Berry whispered. "There… are… a lot of Trapinch… a lot…"

"I think...we came across a colony of Trapinch," Dust whispered back. "If we weren't in the middle of a mission, I would take this chance to record all of this!"

"Just don't get them mad… we'll be Trapinch food if they see us as intruders…" Berry hissed.

Dust didn't see much activity among the Trapinch, maybe they were resting from the recent sandstorm. "Well let's just hope that they won't be too bothered by us."

As Dust quickly and quietly moved, the Trapinch lazily moved or laid around. Some of them were yawning, while others were bringing some meat, from their unlucky prey, for their young. Dust had never seen baby Trapinch before, they were pretty small, but they had big bites seeing how they were eating up the meat so quickly.

Berry's sense were weakened from being dehydrated, but she was still able to guide Dust through the tunnels, which Dust was thankful for since he didn't want to have to go through the maze and end up in a dead end or in a family of Trapinch. Though Dust wasn't sure if Berry could sense the stairs, she was likely just leading him away from a lot of Trapinch.

Then, Dust ran into a surprising discovery. There was one Trapinch among the many that looked different. Instead of orange, this Trapinch was a gray-ish green color. Dust would have been impressed to come across this unique Trapinch, but something about this different colored Pokemon gave him an uneasy feeling. He couldn't quite place it, but as he continued staring at the Trapinch, a nagging thought kept coming to his mind, as though he's seen this Trapinch before.

While Dust still kept his eyes on the Pokemon, he hoped that he could walk around it to avoid any confrontation. But as Dust moved to avoid the Trapinch, it suddenly moved to block his path. Dust was caught off guard by the sudden movement.

_Perhaps this Trapinch is blocking us from their nest or something. Best to avoid it then. _Dust thought to himself as he slowly backed away from the Trapinch. When he felt he was a good safe distance, he turned around to take a different path. But shortly after turning, he was surprised to see the Trapinch rush up to block his path once more.

"Where do you think you're going, Absol?" The gray-green Trapinch hissed, which shocked Dust and Berry.

"Did… that Trapinch… just talk?" Berry questioned.

"I think it just did," Dust answered.

"Excuse me, I am not an 'it', I am a 'she'!" The Trapinch huffed. "And I didn't appreciate you freezing my two friends up there."

"Friends?" Dust asked. He then recalled the two Trapinch he had frozen from the sandpit and how the third Trapinch had gotten away. _But this couldn't possibly be the same Trapinch, they were all the same color._

"Maybe you'll recognize me after I do this…" The Trapinch dug into the ground for a second, Dust blinked as he and Berry looked at each other for a moment, before the Trapinch dug her way back up again, looking to be the same color as everyone else; orange and white. "There. Do you recognize me now?"

"It's you!" Dust exclaimed as he recognized the Trapinch as the third one from earlier. "You're civilized?"

"No… at least, I wasn't born civilized," The Trapinch answered. "I was taught, by a Crusader long ago. And I'm grateful, because now that I've learned how to be civilized, I can now hide my true colors and be like everyone else. No longer will I be the odd one out, the one who's different from the rest. I can finally make friends now, instead of having the others look at me funny."

After hearing the Trapinch, Dust was looking at the Pokemon with wide eyes as he took in a deep breath, already preparing all the questions that were popping in his mind. Berry had sensed this, and not wanting to cause any more tension between them and the Trapinch, acted quickly before Dust could speak.

Berry, despite her exhaustion, hopped onto Dust's head to stop him from patronizing the Trapinch. "We're sorry, we're not trying to cause trouble. We just had to defend ourselves. We're Crusaders too, and we're on a mission."

"You two are Crusaders?" The Trapinch asked. "Prove it then, show me your badges."

Dust gulped at the request. "About that...We don't have our badges. I lost mine during our fight with you and your friends."

"And… I left mine… at the guild…" Berry frowned, sliding back onto Dust's back.

The Trapinch glared before a few other Trapinch began to gather around. The unique Trapinch looked around her kin before she started speaking in the ancient language. "Trapinch! Trap, Trapinch, pinch!"

"Trapinch!"

"Trapinch!"

"... I don't like how they're all looking at us, Dust…" Berry frowned, seeing the other Trapinch now glaring at them.

"Okay, well it seems that we are not wanted here," Dust spoke up as he slowly backed away from the group of Trapinch. "So we'll just leave you all be and won't bother you anymore."

The Trapinch launched at them. Dust yelped as he jumped away from the Trapinch and began to run in a random direction. But as Dust ran, he kept running into more Trapinch, and the Trapinch got angry that he intruded on them, and started to chase after him.

Then as more began to chase them, Dust yelped when his legs got caught up in a Sand Tomb attack. Berry gasped as she hopped off of Dust's back to try to figure out how to get him out of the Sand Tomb, but then another Trapinch slammed into Berry, which sent her flying through another tunnel.

"Berry!" Dust shouted.

"So…" Dust heard that Trapinch speak up as she walked towards him. "You say you're a Crusader, but have no badge to prove it. For all I know, you could just be bandits pretending to be Crusaders. Not that there's anything worth stealing here for civilized Pokemon. But I can't just ignore that you did freeze two of my friends. However, it would be unfair for me to condemn you without giving you a chance, right? I was taught that much."

"Look, I'm sorry that I froze two of your friends, but I promise you that was only in self defence. And I promise you that neither of us are bandits. Please, at least let me get my friend back, she's already having a difficult time just being in this dungeon. If it wasn't for that quicksand, I...I don't think either of us would've made it." Dust pleaded.

"Enough with your sentiments. I am not here to feel sorry for a couple of Pokemon who came here of their own volition. If you are a Crusader, then prove it. Battle me, one on one," The Trapinch challenged. "Wild Pokemon respect the strong. If you win, we will let you and your friend go."

Dust grew nervous at the challenge. Battling wild Pokemon was something he had grown accustomed to since joining the Guild, but fighting a civilized Pokemon was a different story. Crimson came to mind as he thought of the last time he fought a civilized Pokemon one on one. Of how outclassed he was compared to the Zoroark. He had trained ever since then, but now that he was about to face another civilized Pokemon, he began to hesitate. But then he remembered his partner, how Berry might be in danger, and how Chloe was still in danger.

Dust took a deep breath, though still feeling nervous, he glared back at the Trapinch. "I accept your challenge."

The Trapinch nodded before she spoke to the other Trapinch in their ancient language. The other Trapinch began to back away, and Dust was freed from the Sand Tomb.

"Now… show me what you can do, Absol," The Trapinch challenged.

Dust took a deep breath, wanting to use Ice Beam since he knew Trapinch was weak to Ice, however, the Trapinch suspected he would, because she immediately used Sand-Attack, kicking up sand in Dust's face, blinding him. Dust took a step back while trying to shake sand of his face, giving the Trapinch the opportunity to attack.

The Trapinch jumped forward, mouth fully open as she bit hard on Dust's right foreleg. Dust yelped in pain, despite being the same type as the attack, the Crunch attack was much more powerful than a Bite attack. Dust tried shaking the Trapinch off, but she held a firm grip. Despite not seeing well, Dust sensed where the Trapinch was biting him and prepared to fire an Ice Beam at her, but the Trapinch was well prepared. She ceased her attack and jumped away just as Dust fired his Ice Beam. Dust managed to shake away the remaining sand of his face and was hoping to see a frozen Trapinch, but to his disappointment, he saw that she had dodged his attack.

The Trapinch was not only clever but fast for a Trapinch. She was pretty strong for a Trapinch too, which made Dust briefly wonder if she was at a high level, perhaps enough to evolve if she wanted to.

The Trapinch then dug underground. Dust frowned, trying to find where the Trapinch went, and she came up under him, slamming into his stomach. Dust fell on his back, groaning a bit.

"This is the best you can do?" Trapinch stated. "Come on, stand up, I know you can do better if you are a Crusader!"

Dust ignored her as he slowly got up, frustrated with how the battle was going. _Why must it always be the strong respect the strong? Why does it always end up like this? _

When Dust got up, Trapinch used Dig to burrow under once more. Dust quickly began to run all over the place to try to throw the Trapinch off, when he tripped over a rock all of a sudden.

"Of course this would happen," Dust mumbled to himself. He would've gotten up but the rock he tripped on earlier caught his eye. "Hello? I never seen a rock like you before."

Despite being in the middle of a battle, Dust seemed to have forgotten about it as he examined the rock. The rock itself looked smooth and a bit round. He noticed that most of the rock was green except for the occasional dark green squares on the side. He picked up the rock and was surprised to see the rock have a weirdly orange-red stripe underneath it. As he held the rock, he noticed how warm it felt, despite being underground. He would've examined it more but then felt the ground shaking beneath him.

Jumping on instinct, Dust managed to dodge the Trapinch just as she burst from the ground. He held the rock close to the chest, breathing a bit hard at barely dodging the attack.

"Careful! I was in the middle of studying this rock!" Dust shouted.

"Are you seriously getting distracted by our battle by some stupid rock!?" The Trapinch snapped. "You are annoying and hopeless!"

The Trapinch let out a shout as sand started to kick up around her. There was sudden heavy winds despite being underground, and sand buffeting Dust. It took a moment for Dust to realize that the Trapinch just used Sandstorm to summon… well, a sandstorm.

"Really? We just got out of a sandstorm!" Dust shouted only for sand to get in his mouth. He coughed a bit before looking at the rock once more. "Better keep you safe, already lost my badge in the sand, don't want to lose you too."

He tucked the rock away in his bag before facing the Trapinch once more, though he was having a difficult time due to the sand flying everywhere. Squinting his eyes, Dust was able to at least spot the Trapinch, it at least helped that her colors were somewhat easy to spot. But the Trapinch thrived in the sandstorm. She was able to run up to Dust with another Crunch attack, this time on his side instead of one of his legs. Dust cried out in pain as he bucked around.

Berry managed to slowly slither her way out of the tunnel she was knocked back into, and came up into the sandstorm area. She coughed from the sudden intake of sand. _What's going on…? How is there a sandstorm underground?_

Berry straighten up when she heard Dust screaming out in pain. _Oh no… Dust! I can't see… I can hardly move… too much sand… if only there was water… rain..._

The Goomy shut her eyes. _Rain… water… give me water!_

Berry let out a loud cry.

Dust managed to get the Trapinch off of him when he heard the sudden loud cry. The sandstorm started to dissipate.

"What? What's going on? The sandstorm shouldn't have dissipated already!" Trapinch asked in confusion.

Dark clouds started to form on the ceiling above them. Dust would have questioned the strange phenomenon but he was still wincing from the pain. For the moment he just assumed it had to do with the Mystery Dungeon. He wanted to take this chance to fire an Ice Beam but he was still coughing from the all the sand.

As he continued to cough, he tried to figure out what attack to use. _If I could stop coughing for a second, I could use Ice Beam, but it looks like that won't be the case. I could try Bite, but I don't think that will be enough._

The dark clouds began to drip rain, then there was a sudden downpour, soaking everything around them. Trapinch let out a hiss, not liking the rain. The color on the Trapinch melted off of her, showing her gray-green colors once more. Dust was even more surprised there was such heavy rain, underneath a desert.

"Dust!" Dust jumped at suddenly hearing Berry's voice calling out to him.

Looking over at where he heard the voice, the Absol saw Berry. Berry looked moist again thanks to the rain. "Dust, don't think about it. Just fight with your instinct! Also, Trapinch doesn't like water. And what happens if you mix ice with water?"

Dust took a moment to breath as he was finally able to clear his throat before replying back to his partner. "Well you see, when ice comes into contact with water, with ice being at a much lower temperature than water, a heat transfer will occur. The result usually will be where the water itself will change its temperature due to the surrounding ice."

"Darn it, Dust! That wasn't meant to have an answer!" Berry groaned. "Just use your Ice Beam while it's raining!"

Dust chuckled a bit at realizing what Berry meant. "Right, sorry about that."

Turning his attention back to Trapinch, he prepared to fire an Ice Beam attack. As he charged the attack, he noticed the temperature started to drop, most likely due to rain. He then fired the ice attack at the Trapinch, causing any rain droplets to get frozen as they came into contact with the Trapinch tried to use Dig to get away, but the cold temperature, and the rain becoming frozen from the Ice Beam, severely slowed the Trapinch down, enough that she was hit directly by the Ice Beam. Despite how high level the Trapinch was, she couldn't stay conscious after getting soaked by rain, hit by frozen rain, and had a direct hit from the Ice Beam itself. Her torso, where she was hit, was frozen, though the rest of her body wasn't, surprisingly enough.

"You did it!" Berry smiled as she slithered over to Dust. "Also, ahhhh, glorious water. I missed water so, _so_ much!"

"Guess it was fortunate that it started raining, though never knew Mystery Dungeons to suddenly change the weather like that." Dust noted while glad to have most of the sand washed off his body.

"Underground Mystery Dungeons aren't known for changing weathers on their own," Berry remarked. "... I'm like… uh… 70% sure this rain might have something to do with me. I was really wishing for it when I got caught up in the sandstorm."

"Oh, well the only way you could have made it rain is if you knew Rain Dance," Dust commented. "That would explain the sudden rain in the middle of a sandstorm."

"Ugh…" The shiny Trapinch groaned as she regained consciousness.

The rain finally stopped, and the dark clouds dissipated. Berry and Dust turned their attention on the shiny Trapinch.

"It… would seem… I was defeated," The shiny Trapinch mumbled.

Dust was about to reply when he winced from the pain that he received during their fight. He checked in his bag and was satisfied to see both the rock he found and the berries were still intact. He grabbed an Oran Berry and began eating it, already feeling his body recover. After finishing his berry, he walked up to the Trapinch and reached for another Oran Berry in the bag. He held it between his claws, waiting for the Trapinch to take it.

The Trapinch looked a bit hesitant, and for a moment, Dust was a bit worried that the Trapinch would let pride keep her from eating it. But eventually, the Trapinch opened her mouth and chomped down on the berry in Dust's paw. The ice on her shattered off and she was able to stand again.

"Good as new," Dust gave a friendly smile. "And seeing how the battle is now over and I won...Are we good to go now?"

"I will admit, I don't like admitting defeat, but yes, you two are free to go," The Trapinch said. "You may call me Jade. That was the name I was given by the last Crusader who found me."

"Thank you," Dust replied but then a new thought came to his mind. "If you don't mind me asking, who was the Crusader who met you last time? Were they the ones who also taught you? And were you taught back at a guild? Or did they teach you here? And if here, have you been able to pass on those teachings to your other kin? And that does bring up the question, can wild Pokemon teach other wild Pokemon? I would theorize that-"

"Uh, Dust…" Berry spoke up. "I think she stopped listening."

Indeed, Jade was just digging around through the dirt now, not seeming to be listening to Dust anymore.

"...Oh," Dust gave a Woolooish smile. "So it seems."

Jade seemed to be putting something on her that covered her shiny color with her kind's original orange color. Then she had a small, shiny thing on her head. "I will only answer one of your questions. The Crusader I met last time was a Vibrava, but this was quite a few years ago, so they could be a Flygon now for all I know. His name was Gale, and I believe he said he was a member of the Unity Guild. Ask him the rest of your questions. Oh, and here."

Jade flicked her head at Dust, throwing the shiny things at him.

Dust barely had time to catch the shiny object. "Oh! What's this?"

Dust looked at it and saw it was his badge.

"I believe that's yours. I saw it had fallen down here when I came down here after our little scuffle on the surface," Jade answered. "If you're a Crusader like you claimed to be, and you lost your badge in our sand pit, then it must be yours, am I right?"

"Indeed, you are right," Dust attached the badge back to his satchel, glad to have it back once more. "Thank you for returning it."

"Yeah, that was nice of you…" The Goomy added.

"Just be more careful with it," Jade said. "Now if you're looking to get out, go through only the single tunnel holes. The ones with multiple holes are family colonies."

"That does make things a lot more simpler. Sorry for trespassing, we'll make sure to avoid your family colonies," Dust apologized.

Dust lowered himself to the ground, letting Berry climb onto his back, before he stood back up.

He started walking towards where Jade had pointed the exit for them when he suddenly stopped. He turned to look at Berry with a concerned look on his face.

"You know, the only reason why we originally kept on going was because we had no means of getting out of this dungeon...Now that I have my badge back, we can teleport out of here." Dust explained.

"Are you kidding? I'm not leaving now. That rain helped keep me from dehydrating, so I'll be fine," Berry assured.

"Are you sure? We've been underground but the moment we managed to get back to the surface, things might turn out like last time." Dust was still having some doubts about going further.

"Yeah. I'll be fine, Dust. I'm not leaving until I know Chloe is safe," Berry stubbornly answered.

Knowing that Berry was too determined to take no for an answer, Dust doesn't reply but instead gave her a firm nod of approval. With that he continued on the path, following the direction Jade had given them earlier. It was easy for Dust to find the stairs as it was pretty straight forward from there, the other Trapinch left them alone. They weren't very hostile down here, likely because the Trapinch only went to the surface to catch prey.

* * *

**Phoenix Desert 7F**

Dust finally made it up to the surface. The stairs finally took them out of the underground, and they were back in the sunny, hot desert. Already Dust missed the cool temperature from underground, but there was no point in turning back now. Once they left the stairs, they had already vanished, something Dust has wondered about for some time, but now wasn't the time for it.

Berry was silent again. Though the rain had helped her get some much needed moist, she was drying up again quickly in the desert's the sun. Dust wondered how worse this must be for Berry, someone who needed to have water almost constantly.

The Absol plowed on through, he avoided as many wild Pokemon as he could. He did have to fight with a few of them that tried to cause him trouble though. Ice Beam easily took care of these Pokemon since most of them were Ground type, though there were a few Cacnea, they were Grass types, but they were also desert dwellers, thankfully for Dust, Cacnea shared the same weakness to Ice.

But Dust knew he was going to run out of Ice Beam eventually, so he would need to save it up for when they reached the Snubbull. Dust took out an apple, seeing it was already drying up, and gave it to Berry, hoping some of its juices will help her. Berry didn't waste time scarfing the apple down.

Dust was glad when he found the stairs to the next floor.

* * *

**Phoenix Desert 8F**

There were some sandpits that the Trapinch were causing, but they seemed to ignore Dust for the most part, likely due to the fact Jade told them to leave the Absol alone. Which Dust was grateful for, it was one less problem to worry about for the rest of the mission.

Unfortunately, not everything could go right. More Hippopotas were on this floor, and their ability, Sand Stream, summoned another sandstorm on this floor. Dust had to squint his eyes just to barely see in front of him, sand was flying everywhere and he could feel his body occasionally being pelted by the sand.

"Berry?" Dust covered his mouth with his forearm to prevent the sand from coming in. "You wouldn't happen to sense another secret underground quicksand, would you?"

"Mm-mmm…" Berry shook her head, not wanting to open her mouth to get sand in it.

There was a group of Hippopotas that appeared to be sand bathing, they were enjoying the sandstorm, and were even singing. Dust didn't even know Hippopotas sang. Dust then remembered how Berry had, likely, summoned rain during his battle with Jade.

"Berry...is it possible you could make it rain again, like last time?" Dust had to cover even more of his face as the sandstorm was getting stronger now.

Berry didn't give a direct answer, but she gave a shake of her head. It was likely the first time she summoned rain, it was by accident, so she didn't know how to willingly activate Rain Dance.

Dust groaned, he hated having to trek through this desert while in a sandstorm. The sand was feeling heavier and heavier the more he tried to walk through it. By this point, Dust had only one Oran Berry left in his pouch, he had used a lot of it to keep Berry from collapsing before. The idea of teleporting out of the dungeon and getting back to the guild was becoming more and more tempting the longer he had to walk through the sandstorm.

"You're… close…" Berry spoke up as Dust was considering using his badge to teleport them out. "Keep… moving…"

Dust almost jumped at hearing Berry, he was used to her mostly keeping quiet due to the surface. But trusting her words, he kept moving forward, but if this went on for too long he would use the badge as a last resort.

Berry managed to open her eyes and give a glare. _I remember that Snubbull's feeling anywhere._

The Absol was relieved to see stairs up ahead, they could finally get out of this sandstorm, and hopefully the next floor wouldn't have any Hippopotas or another Pokemon that has Sand Stream. Dust never felt relieved to have his claws on a mon made thing like stairs until now, anything to get away from having to step on sand again for another second.

* * *

**GUEST #1:** **Traveling Master: **No need to apologize, you're all good. I'm always glad to see your review, so again, no need to apologize.

**Greatest Guy: DarkFoxKit: **Yeah, poor Chloe. And also, poor Berry and Brody if they don't get Chloe back unscathed. You don't want to deal with an angry mama Kangaskhan.

**Chihiro: **You are right, this is a _Berry _serious situation they are in. I can only imagine after this ordeal all the _Dust _and sand they will be shaking off. But even during the darkest of times, a pun and a smile can do many wonders.

**Traveling Master: **Uh...thanks for the advice. Also, we felt that we should focus on Berry since it was her's and Brody's job to babysit. But yeah, I can understand, things tend to get a lot calmer when Dust isn't around.

**FoxyKhai0209****: DarkFoxKit:** Yeah, there's gonna be quite a few of those. We really need a beta reader, we sometimes get certain words confused, and our grammar is average at best.

You'll see what the Snubull wants. This was a tough dungeon to do, especially for Berry.

Ooh, I hope things will get better for you.

**Solar Kisses: Traveling Master: **Well that's the best and worst thing about cliffhangers, so much suspense, and only time will provide the answers.

**Scarlet Harmony: Traveling Master: **Hopefully they do, as my good friend mentioned before, you don't want to deal with an angry mama Kangaskhan. You're basically signing your death will.

**Rainbow Dawn: DarkFoxKit:** Thanks, but it's not that bad here, it's just the lockdown that the government is hammering down on. The only 'sickness' I'm worried about is my pollen allergies.

**Snowy Blossom: Traveling Master: **Thanks for the advice, and same goes for you. Make sure to stay safe.

**Sandy Star: DarkFoxKit:** We're all fine here, just mostly dealing with pollen allergies. I just hope you guys are all okay.

**Jewel moonstone: Travelling Master: **...Oh yes! The suspense, the high risks, the climax! So… Yes.

**Orchid Diamond: DarkFoxKit:** Yes, everyone is definitely anxious about the Coronavirus. So much so that everyone keeps reviewing about it. We appreciate your guys' concerns, but please, if you're going to review, at least say something about the story or chapter itself.

**Lucy Wing971: Traveling Master: **Thank you for the five stars, will keep them in a safe place. And thanks for your concern, really appreciate it.

**ArcherAmpharos: Traveling Master: **Thanks for the advice. And Dust does have some suspicions, or at least questions concerning Syzygy itself. But with time Dust will surely find what it truly is. And as the story progresses, you will see things change from the normal, day-to-day missions, but only time will tell. Glad you enjoyed the story, and promise you that you'll enjoy the next to come. And yes, I've been enjoying Animal Crossing so far. Really glad I got it.

**DarkFoxKit:** Animal Crossing is awesome. Though it does look like they took out a lot of features, like the ability to swim. I mean I still don't know if you can't swim, but so far it looks like you can't.

**The Moonfox Collective: DarkFoxKit:** Heh, Team Destruct are quite the characters. They are very destructive and hot headed, they definitely live up to their team name.

Yes, 'don't bring them' also means 'don't tell them'. Though it still would've been wise for Berry to tell Chihiro at least. The Snubull would have no way of knowing that Berry told the guild master, especially since Chihiro is part Ghost type, she can go while invisible.

**Dust: **The Precog Absol… I like the sound of that-

**Traveling Master: **Look, you're bad with names, I don't think you should try to come up with your own or borrow others. But yes, the two abilities really do work well with one another if you think about it. And there will be times where we will focus on Berry, other times on Dust, or normally just have the two together, depending on what is happening in the story.

I would never kill a theory… At least not at first, cause you never know, your theory may be right. There is some mystery behind the Syzygy itself, but that may or may not be further explained as the story progresses.

First characters I've ever made were actually Team Destruct, and I tried making a story about them, but didn't work out so well. But I love these guys too much to just let their potential go to waste. Really glad that we were able to work something out with them in this story.

And I'm sure your hope in them is greatly appreciated.

**lonelyboi69: DarkFoxKit:** Heh, well we never confirmed that Goodra was Berry's mother, but you're right about it being an interesting idea.

Well… The Child of Mew isn't being focused on right now, I do apologize for that. But I will throw you a bone here and say that Leo and Luna may see Ash again during the sequel.

**InfernalzRush: DarkFoxKit:** Author chuckles in amusement.

Author's amusement went up.

Author is happy that Reader is pumped.  
Author's morality went up!

**DarkFoxKit:** Personally, I don't rely on notifications, I usually check manually for stuff. It's a lot of work, and I don't always remember to check, but… you know how it is. And yes, Team Destruct are a bit inspirational from Fairy Tail. XD

**Traveling Master: **It's true, Fairy Tail does play a big role in their destructive natures, I'm sure any other Guild Master would go crazy at seeing how chaotic the guild could get. I mean, look what happened at Dust's old guild, he got kicked out.

**DarkFoxKit:** Now, before we sign off, we do want to speak up about the reviews concerning the viruses. We do appreciate everyone's concerns, we really do, but it was filling up all our reviews. We wanted to read about your guys' thoughts about the story or chapter itself, in a way, your comments about those are our 'payment' for the story. So while we are appreciative of your concerns, we would like it more if you would comment about the chapter or story as well as the comment about the virus if you still want to tell us to be careful.

**Traveling Master: **Couldn't have said it better, and we know you guys mean well, and we also wish for your safety too during these times. So be safe, wash your hands, and keep looking forward to the next well as the comment about the virus if you still want to tell us to be careful.

**Traveling Master: **Couldn't have said it better, and we know you guys mean well, and we also wish for your safety too during these times. So be safe, wash your hands, and keep looking forward to the next chapter.


	17. Chapter 17: The Snubbull Outlaw

**DarkFoxKit:** Are they gone yet? ***Is hiding under the couch***

**Traveling Master: **I don't know. ***Grumbles quietly* **Still can't believe Dust broke the 4th wall… Again! We barely got away from our characters!

**DarkFoxKit: *Looks at the camera she managed to start up*** The readers are listening right now. Hey lovely readers, so TM and I are currently in hiding right now because a certain Absol decided it would be funny to break the 4th wall and have all of our characters completely swamp us. We were lucky to get out of there alive.

**Traveling Master: **You would think they would check under the couch, but surprisingly we haven't heard from any of our characters since then.

**DarkFoxKit:** One of us needs to get to the computer to update the chapter though. We don't want to keep the readers waiting, and maybe if we update, the characters will go back into their world.

**Traveling Master: **I don't want to go out there!... Rock paper scissors for it?

**DarkFoxKit:** Fine, but make it quick.

***The two authors shook their claw/paw***

**DarkFoxKit: *Sent out Paper***

**Traveling Master: *Sent out Scissors*** Heh. Luck be on my side! Hahaha!

**DarkFoxKit: *Frowns*** I wanted to do Rock, but I can't bend my paw like you can with your claws!

**Traveling Master: **Fair point, we'll try doing something that works best for both of us next time...But for now...You got a computer to get!

**DarkFoxKit: *Ears twitched when she heard voices getting closer*** Crap. Here, hold the camera. ***Pushes the camera to TM before she slowly pushes herself out from under the couch. She quickly scurried to the computer.***

**Traveling Master: *I was recording DF while keeping a lookout for any of our characters. Even though I could hear them nearby, there was no sign of them* **Where are they?

**?:** Hey TM~

**Traveling Master: *My heart nearly jumped out, but I quickly calmed down, not wanting to alert our characters. I tried squinting but could barely see underneath the couch. Didn't help that I had to dim my tail flame as to not accidentally burn the couch and give our position away.* **DF? Is that you?

***The figure got closer to Traveling Master, revealing themselves to be a Goomy***

**Berry:** Nope. I knew I would find you down here~

**Traveling Master: *I blinked as dread filled within me, but at the same time I couldn't help but feel pride in our character.* **Clever girl.

***I tried to escape from the couch, but it was too late, she had me in her grasps. I was merely inches away from crawling out, but now I was being dragged back in, the sound of my screams filled the room, but was quickly muffled by the gooey body of Berry***

**DarkFoxKit:** TM? ***Looks back at the couch, seeing only a camera there*** Uh-oh… ***She then hears two missile Dreepy heading towards her. She quickly hit 'update' on the computer*** Readers, if you can see this, SAVE YOURSELVES! ***Screams before the camera went static***

* * *

**Chapter 17: The Snubbull Outlaw**

**Phoenix Oasis**

When Dust came up from the stairs, he didn't expect to see actual grass growing around here, or palm trees, or even, heavenly, crystal clear, cool looking water.

"Incredible. I never would've guessed that it would be like this. What do you think, Berry?" Dust asked his partner, but when he turned around he saw how exhausted she looked. "Actually, hold that thought. Let's get you to that water first."

Going straight for the water, Dust was not prepared to suddenly be hit on his side with a Headbutt attack. Landing on his side, he winced at the slight pain. Getting up, he saw the Snubbull blocking him from getting near the water.

"Ah-ah-ah, nobody gets near this water until you give me what I want," The Snubbull said in a condescending tone. "Hmph, looks like that annoying little bug you have on your back didn't come alone like I told her to. Though considering how she doesn't even look to be able to move, I suppose that's understandable that she would bring a carrier with her. I take it the item I requested is in that satchel of yours, Absol?"

Dust hadn't planned for this. Originally it was supposed to be him, Berry and Brody taking on the Snubbull. But now he had no idea where Brody was, and Berry was exhausted from the constant heat of the dungeon.

Before Dust could answer the Snubbull, however, Berry spoke up in a strained voice. "Where… is… Chloe…?"

The Snubbull shook their head. "First, tell me if you brought what I demanded. Then I'll show you Chloe."

Dust decided to take this opportunity to try to get more information. Berry herself was clearly not able to negotiate as she was now. "What is this item you wanted? We have something, but we want to be sure we got what you demanded."

"Don't play dumb. I learned that it was your guild's greatest treasure, the Syzygy. Now do you have it?!" Snubbull demanded, growing impatient.

_How can we have something that we can't have? It's a term, not some physical object! How can something like that be the guild's treasure? _Dust thought to himself, frustrated by what the Snubbull demanded from them.

Dust decided to keep bluffing, hoping to figure out some sort of plan. "We have it...Now where's Chloe?"

Snubbull looked at Dust for a moment before she moved to one of the palm trees. There, she pulled away a small bush, before showing the baby Kangaskhan all tied up and gagged. Chloe couldn't cry out or move, but she looked happy and relieved to see Dust and Berry, so much so that tears ran down from her scared eyes.

"There, I've showed you the baby Kangaskhan. Now you hand over the Syzygy, and you will get this baby back unharmed," Snubbull stated.

"...Okay…" Dust slowly replied as he went through his bag, mostly to buy himself what little time he had left.

_Think Dust, think! The Snubbull will find out you're lying, and who knows what they'll do next. I can't face them on my own, not with Chloe in danger. Think Dust, think! _Dust was so deep in thought he almost didn't notice the glint reflecting off his badge.

He went to move it but as he grabbed it he couldn't help take interest in the design of the badge. As he stared at the white circular badge that had both the sun and a crescent moon fused together, he thought about how it kinda resembled a syzygy. Dust didn't have many options left, but he hoped that maybe his badge would buy him enough time to at least get Chloe and to get Berry to the water.

"...Here's the Syzygy, just like we promised." Dust lied as he tossed his badge to the Snubbull.

The Snubbull had an excited look on her face as she caught the badge. "Finally, I finally have the ultimate power! I can now- wait a second!"

Snubbull studied the badge in her grasp, before she looked at Dust with a look of anger. "This isn't the real Syzygy! How dare you try to trick me!?"

Snubbull threw the badge back at Dust, having it hit his head. She then moved to Chloe, grabbing her neck. Chloe froze in fear.

"Either you give me the _real _Syzygy, or this little baby gets to take a permanent nap," Snubbull threatened.

"No… stop…!" Berry tried to yell, but she only sputtered and coughed.

The Snubbull was so focused on Dust that she didn't see the Aura Sphere coming right at them. Getting hit by the surprise attack, the Snubbull was knocked back while losing her grip on Chloe.

"Seems as though I made it just in time," A familiar voice spoke up. Both Dust and Berry are relieved when they see Brody walking up to them.

"You're a sight for sore eyes," Dust remarked, seeing the Lucario.

"And you two are full of surprises. I thought you had already left the dungeon. How did you even get here before me?" Brody asked.

"I supposed it would have to do with that shortcut we found earlier. Through luck we managed to end up underground, beneath the desert dungeon." Dust explained.

Brody rushed over to Chloe while the Snubbull was still recovering from his Aura Sphere, he cut through the rope that Chloe was tied up in, took off her gag, and picked her up.

"Th-thank you, Brody! I was so scared!" Chloe cried as the Lucario rushed back to Dust and Berry.

Brody looked at Berry. "Berry doesn't look so good, you should get her into the water."

"No!" Snubbull growled before she jumped at them, Headbutting Berry off of Dust's back before grabbing the weakened Goomy. "You are not leaving until I get the Syzygy!"

Brody put Chloe into his bag before he got into his battle position while having a fierce look on his face. Dust was surprised to see Brody like this, he normally saw the Lucario always giving a friendly smile while serving food.

"That Aura Sphere was just a warning shot. Release her now and we'll let you go, but if you harm her in any way I won't hold back." Brody warned as some of his aura flared out from his body.

"Hmph, never thought you would be so rough with a lady," Snubbull growled.

"Ha, like some degenerate like yourself could actually be female! There's no way a rough, dirty, conniving Snubbull like you could ever be female!" Brody countered.

"Oh, no?~" Snubbull smirked before she winked an eye at Brody, and suddenly, pink hearts came floating out. "Then have fun with this, big boy."

Brody was hit by the pink hearts, the hearts turned into pink energy and were absorbed into Brody. Dust gulped as he saw the Lucario dropped his battle stance.

"...Brody? Are you...okay?" Dust slowly asked.

"Oh...I'm okay...Better than okay...In fact...I'm in love!" Brody shouted, as he rushed towards the Snubbull. "Forgive me for my earlier behavior. No gentlemon should ever treat a lady as such. You are truly the most beautiful creature in all the lands."

"Now that's much better~ How about handing me the baby back? Or the Syzygy," Snubbull said.

To Dust's chagrin, Brody picked up Chloe from his bag and started to hand her back to Snubbull.

"W-what are you doing, Brody?" Chloe frowned.

Dust knew he had to do something. Brody was in love and appeared to be easily controllable, Chloe was only a baby, and Snubbull had a dehydrated Berry in her hold. It was all on Dust right now. He figured the best shot would be to take down Brody, so he charged an Ice Beam attack, hoping to freeze the Lucario and also free Chloe in the process. He felt somewhat reluctant to fire at Brody, especially with his back turned towards him, but he felt this was the best choice.

With the Lucario distracted with giving Snubbull Chloe, Dust fired his attack. Just as the Ice Beam was only a few feet away from hitting Brody, he suddenly spun around, swinging his right leg at the attack. Just before contact Dust saw flames coming from the Lucario's leg. The two attacks collided, causing a small explosion, covering the area with smoke. After a few seconds the smoke cleared, revealing Brody standing in a defense position while holding Chloe behind him, protecting her from the initial blast.

Dust frowned, he didn't expect Brody to know a Fire type move. He had hoped his attacked would've worked, but Brody proved that this was only going to get harder.

"It's one thing to aim an attack at me," Brody warned, "But it's another when you aim at a lady. Looks like I'll need to teach you some manners."

Dust gasped when Brody suddenly got in close, still holding Chloe in one hand, he used his other hand to punch Dust, and his feet to kick him. Dust felt immense pain from the attack, and Dust vaguely realized Brody was using a Fighting type move, Close Combat from the looks of it. Dust fell to the sandy ground, he didn't know how he was still conscious, but he felt he could barely move himself without feeling some kind of pain.

"Now maybe you'll think twice before putting a female in harm's way," Brody lectured before turning back towards Snubbull.

"Wow, really glad I used Attract on you," Snubbull acknowledged. "I'll probably keep you around, wouldn't hurt to have a strong Lucario as a bodyguard."

"Let… go…" Berry hissed, still trying to struggle despite being dehydrated.

Brody stood beside Snubull, still holding Chloe. Since Snubbull had her hands full with Berry, she needed Brody to keep holding Chloe for her.

"Now…" Snubbull spoke up to the still, somehow conscious Absol. "I will ask you again; where is the Syzygy?"

Dust had a hard just standing up, his entire body hurt like the Reverse World. He didn't know what to say, his options were very limited and he knew he was running out of time. But as he was trying to think of a solution, a new pain suddenly came, but it was mostly focused on his head. Dust felt like his brain was going to explode. No longer did he notice the pain in his body, only the one in his head.

"What's wrong with you?" Snubbull frowned, seeing Dust was clutching his head.

Dust didn't reply, all he could focus on was the pain. All he wanted for it was to go away, nothing else mattered. But despite all the pain he felt, he suddenly heard something. At first Dust didn't know if it was Snubbull or one of the others, but as he heard that strange noise again, he realized that it came from his mind, whether it was his own or not he couldn't tell.

"_Seems as though you're in a bind," _The voice echoed through Dust's mind, it was foreign but somewhat familiar at the same time. "_Looks like you barely scratched the surface of your gift, allow me to offer my assistance this one time."_

After Dust heard those words, the pain somehow doubled within his mind, causing him to scream out in pain.

"D-Dust…" Berry hissed in concern.

Even though Snubbull was an outlaw, and she didn't particularly cared for the Absol, she couldn't stand watching him writhe around like that in pain. She looked over at the Lucario. "Go put him out of his misery. I'll have you bring me the Syzygy instead."

"Yes, milady," Brody said as he started to walk towards Dust, who was still writhing in pain.

"Please stop, Brody," Chloe begged.

"Stop… don't… do it…" Berry spoke up, struggling more.

But Brody didn't listen, the only one he listened to was Snubbull. He was now in front of Dust, who hadn't ceased clutching his head as he continued to scream, unaware of the danger he was in. Brody raised his right leg high, flames already coming forth as he prepared to put Dust out of his misery.

"Stop…! Stop…!" Berry took a deep breath and let out a cry. "STOP IT!"

Dark clouds began to cover the sky quickly, then it started to pour out rain onto the floor just as Brody's leg was covered in flames. The rain fizzled out the flames, and Snubbull looked up in shock.

"What the? It's not supposed to rain in this dungeon!" Snubbull shouted. "Whatever! Just finish that Absol off already!"

"As you command, milady," Brody replied before turning back towards Dust.

But when Brody turned to face Dust, he was surprised to see the Absol no longer screaming. Dust seemed to be equally confused as he stared at the Lucario. Though it was for a moment, Brody doesn't waste another second to bring back his leg to deliver a powerful kick to Dust's head, but even before Brody moved, Dust saw something very strange.

Dust suddenly saw two images of Brody, one being his body, the other one a solid image. He noticed that the solid imaged was about to deliver a kick to his head, which Brody shortly took the same position as the image, copying it's movements. Without really thinking, Dust's body moved on it's own, leaning backwards to dodge the solid image's attack. At the moment, shortly after he saw Brody's attack barely missing him. Both Dust and Brody were shocked that he even dodged that.

While that was going on, however, the rain began to revitalize the dehydrated Goomy. Berry perked up as she was finally getting some much needed moisture back onto her body. She could see Dust was somehow handling his own against Brody, and as much as Berry wanted to help Dust, she knew the best way to help him was to snap Brody out of the Attract, and the best way to do that was to knock out the Pokemon that had her in her grip.

The Snubbull was too distracted watching Brody and Dust that she didn't notice the Goomy in her grip was turning herself around. Berry may not know a lot about herself, but she did know her type charts. She knew Snubbull was a Fairy type, so her Dragon Breath wouldn't do anything, especially considering the first time she chased down Snubbull back in town.. Instead, she looked at the Snubbull in the face before she blasted out the most powerful Water Gun she could manage without her big outburst. The rain boosted the Water Gun's attack, enough so that it caused Snubbull to be blasted a few feet away, after her now moist body slipped out of the Snubbull's fingerless grasp.

Snubbull coughed for a bit, trying to get any water out of her mouth. "You brat! You're gonna regret doing that!"

"You're going to regret trying to kill my partner," Berry hissed.

Snubbull jumped at Berry with her arms moving frantically in the air. "Then let's Play Rough!"

Berry knew that the attack would likely hurt if she got hit by it, so she blasted out another Water Gun at the Snubbull, trying to keep her away. However, as the Snubbull got hit by the Water Gun, she suddenly _bit down_ on the water, and it started to turn to ice. Berry's eyes widened at that and quickly stopped her water attack to hop away from the now frozen Water Gun and the Snubbull still biting it.

Just as Berry hopped away, Snubbull landed right where Berry was moments before. Still swinging her arms randomly, she charged at Berry. "Gonna have to do better than that!"

_This Snubbull is crazy!_ Berry inwardly yelped as she kept trying to hop away, but the Snubbull was easily gaining on her. _I have to do something!_

Berry shot her Water Gun below her, propelling her body up into the air, barely avoiding the Snubbull's Play Rough once more, but she knew she couldn't keep running forward. So, Berry stopped using her Water Gun and focused in on the Snubbull as her body started falling. The Snubbull looked just as Berry slammed into her with a high falling Tackle attack.

Meanwhile, during Dust and Brody's battle, the Absol had been able to dodge every one of Brody's attacks so far. Dust didn't understand how, but all he knew was that he could see Brody's attack before the Lucario even made them. But despite seeing all his attacks, Dust couldn't find any openings to counter. His body was still in pain from the first time Brody attacked him, and it took all his focus just to dodge the next attack. Unfortunately Dust felt something move underneath his right foot, causing him to stumble. Despite it being for a second, that was all the time Brody needed. Dust saw the attack coming, Brody raising his leg high and delivering a hard crushing blow against the Absol's skull, but despite seeing it coming, Dust knew he had no chance of dodging the attack. So he closed his eyes and braced for the impact, waiting for the blow to come.

But the attack never came. After waiting a few seconds, Dust cautiously opened his eyes to see Brody's leg was only a few inches from his head. Brody then moved his leg back to the ground while rubbing his head.

"Brody?" Dust cautiously called out, still wary of the Lucario. "Are you alright?

Brody shook his head, as though trying to wake up. "...Yeah...just give me a second to...clear my head."

Dust gave a sigh of relief. "That's good to hear. For a moment I really thought you were gonna hit me."

"Hit you?" Brody asked while having a puzzled look. "What are you talking about?"

Before Dust could say anything, he and Brody heard what sounded like loud screeching. Both of them turned to where they heard the screaming. The Snubbull used Ice Fang on Berry, who let out a scream from the attack. Her Defense Scarf saved her from a potentially fatal wound, but the ice was starting to freeze her body, especially in the rain. Chloe was yelling in worry and fear.

"Get off of her!" Chloe cried before she did a weak version of what appeared to be a Mega Punch at the Snubbull's face in an attempt to get her off of the Goomy.

Though the attack barely seemed to hurt Snubbull, it was enough to annoy her to let go of Berry and turn her attention back to Chloe.

"You're going to pay for that," Snubbull growled darkly.

Chloe shivered as she backed away from the angry bull dog Pokemon.

"Stop!" Berry, despite being half frozen, managed to latch herself onto the Snubbull's back to keep her from hurting Chloe. "You won't hurt Chloe!"

Snubull pushed Berry off of her, due to Berry's half frozen state, she couldn't stick to the Snubbull as much as she hoped. Turning back to Chloe, the Snubbull started making her way towards her, intent on taking her hostage once more. But just as she is within reach of Chloe, an Aura Sphere came blasting between them, stopping Snubbull in her tracks.

"That was your only warning," Brody shouted. "If you harm them any more so help me Mew that I won't show you any mercy!" With that his aura was pulsing threatening from his body.

The Snubbull looked at Brody. Then she gave a wink before hearts started going towards Brody. Seeing this, Berry managed to jump herself towards the hearts, making the hearts go to her instead. Because Snubbull and Berry were the same gender, however, the Attract had no effect on her.

"You're not taking him… not again…" Berry hissed, though the ice was starting to creep through her body.

The Snubbull took a step back as she accessed her current situation. She had hoped to gain control of Brody again but Berry would make sure that wouldn't happen. She looked at Dust but seeing how much damage he had already taken she knew he wouldn't be of much help. And as long as Brody was there, she couldn't see an opportunity to grab Chloe without being attacked by the Lucario.

"Looks like you've realized it," Brody spoke up. "You can leave now or we can take you back to our guild for kidnapping. Your choice."

The Snubbull growled. "I'll let you leave for now. But I _will_ return and I _will _get the Syzygy."

With that said, the Snubbull ran to the other side of the dungeon, going to the next floor, and disappearing. With the outlaw gone, Berry could finally relax. The rain above them stopped, and the dark clouds parted, allowing the unforgiving hot sun beat down on them again. Though for once, Berry was grateful for the sun since it was melting the ice that was on her.

Chloe hugged Berry since she was the closest. "I'm glad you came… I was so scared."

Dust and Brody walked up to them, both also glad to finally have Chloe back.

"It's okay Chloe," Brody said. "It's over now."

"And it was very brave of you to attack that Snubbull. If you hadn't, Berry might have been completely frozen," Dust added. "And she might not have been able to stop the Snubbull's Attract on Brody."

"I'm… I'm just glad you're all okay…" Chloe said, still looking a bit shaken up. "Um… c-can we go home now? I want to be with Mommy."

"Yeah…" Berry answered. "Home sounds heavenly right now."

"I couldn't agree more," Dust nodded before grabbing his badge.

With that Dust used the badge to teleport them all out of the Dungeon. Now that they were finally out, Dust already noticed the difference in temperature and was glad to finally be out, but he was sure Berry was even more so to be out of the desert.

Brody picked up Berry, who still had some ice on her, and Chloe. "Come, let's get home quickly, these two may need medical attention."

"What about you Dust? You did get hurt a lot," Chloe asked, remembering seeing how badly Dust was from Brody's recent attack.

"That's right...I did," Dust said mostly to himself, but he was confused.

Before his entire body was in pain, but now he only felt exhausted and a bit numb. He wasn't sure if it was due to all the adrenaline from his fight with Brody, but now that they were out he should be feeling all sorts of pain through his body.

"When did you get hurt?" Brody asked. "You actually seem pretty fine to me."

"It might be best to talk about it later, after we're at the guild," Berry suggested. _I'd rather not deal with a guilt ridden Lucario right now._

"Very well," Brody was still wondering why Chloe asked about Dust, but he figured he could find out later.

With that the group begin to make their way back to the guild.

* * *

**DarkFoxKit: *manages to turn on the camera*** Traveling Master, think you're able to answer back the reviewers now? I think we're safe at the moment… also, eew, you're dripping goo everywhere.

**Traveling Master: *I was breathing heavily as I looked around, making sure the coast was clear* **Yeah, don't remind me. But I agree, we should be safe. At least long enough to answer the reviews.

**Greatest Guy:** **DarkFoxKit:** Yeah, I can imagine going through a desert is hard. You and your puns, you trying to give Chihiro ideas? Though Berry can't really use Rain Dance at will yet.

**Guest #1****: Traveling Master: **Glad to know that you enjoyed the chapter. And I agree, staying at home helps to keep the virus from spreading even more.

Brody didn't want Berry to suffer any more, and he also knew that on his own he could move much faster through the dungeon. It was the most logical option for the group at the time. And yes, the guild Team Night Tide is called the Unity Guild. As for Gale that was mentioned, sorry but you'll just have to wait and see. As for Dust's questions, I'll try to answer them all if none of them are spoiling anything for you and the readers.

Gale was the Crusader Jade met last time. Yes, he was the one to teach her. Can't really say. Again, can't really say. With the teaching Jade had recieved from Gale, she has been able to show the other Trapinch to act more intelligent compared to other wild Trapinch, but for the most part, they are still wild. If a Wild Pokemon became Civilized, then it is possible for them to teach other Wild Pokemon. And I believe that's all the questions Dust had asked.

**DarkFoxKit:** Berry is at around level 18 to probably 20 right now. She didn't truly learn Rain Dance, she can only use it when she's desperate enough. In the anime, they actually said Pokemon are capable of using moves they haven't learned when pushed in a tough situation. As for Dust, he's probably around level 23 to 25 right now. How learning moves work, however, is different than in the games. They can learn new moves, but it's not always spontaneous, they would have to practice using a new move before they perfected it. Berry's Dragon Breath, for example, is weaker than normal unless she's using it during one of her outbursts, she needs to get it trained for it to become stronger.

**Traveling Master: **Concerning Dust, I believe DF explained it pretty well. Despite being a higher level, game wise the Absol would automatically learn the moves and use them with no problems. But in the story, it would take practice. Dust knows his signature move, Ice Beam, followed by Bite, Protect, and Slash. He might learn other moves in the future, but it will take time and practice to get the hang of. Some moves are easier to learn than others.

**ArcherAmpharos****: DarkFoxKit:** The shiny Trapinch was just an easter egg I wanted to put in among the Trapinch, but TM decided to make her block Dust's path, and she just kinda became a somewhat important character. Heh, they'll run into Gale eventually. Berry hasn't truly learned Rain Dance, she can't use it on command. It was a move she used out of desperation. Berry won't be able to use Rain Dance again unless it becomes absolutely necessary right now. As for that rock Dust found… heh, let's just say you should keep it in mind~

**FoxyKhai0209****: Traveling Master: **Well it never hurts to be prepared. Wish you the best of luck. Glad you enjoyed the chapter. And no need to worry about Brody too much, while he may be weak to Ground Pokemon, him and his team have trained a lot and have lots of experience. He knows how to handle himself. And I'm sure he would appreciate your concerns for him… But at the moment, please keep it to a minimum. We are still hiding from are characters and Brody always seems to have a knack for sensing females, especially when they are thinking of him. Besides that, it was indeed lucky for the team Berry had learned the move. Luck was on their side.

**DarkFoxKit:** Sort of, Berry hasn't truly learned Rain Dance, it was more of an emergency move that came and went. Berry can't quite use it yet, she only used it when she became desperate for water. Think of it as a self defense adrenaline thing.

**Guest #2****: DarkFoxKit:** So the way moves work in this story is mostly inspired from the anime, using the game as a guide for what they could possibly learn. We're not strictly following how moves should be learned from the games. So if it's possible for them to learn it, they can learn it, including egg moves. Egg moves are the offspring inherited the knowledge of how to use that move from their parents, there should be no reason for the Pokemon to not be able to eventually learn that move just because they weren't hatched with it. So if we wanted, Dust and Berry could potentially learn their egg moves, I don't see why they couldn't just because they weren't born with those moves right out of their eggs.

**Guest #3:** **Traveling Master: **Thanks, glad you liked it. Egg moves are an interesting topic, but whether or not they do unlock their egg moves, well that's something you'll have to wait and see. Seems like you got pretty lucky with your Absol and Goomy, learning great moves to help them out in battle.

**DarkFoxKit:** I will say though, that neither of us knew that Goomy could learn Life Dew as an egg move, so that's pretty interesting to know~

**Dust: **Flamethrower? Now that would be a very interesting move to learn. Can you two make it where I learn the move?

**Traveling Master: **Dust?! What are you doing here?!

**Dust: **Oh shush, I know you two are hiding from the others. Don't fret, they don't know you're here. Just couldn't help myself imagine being able to use Flamethrower.

**Traveling Master: **The answer is no! You already cause enough problems as it is. Now be quiet, we have to finish answering the rest of the reviews! ***Dust nodded, but he had other plans of his own***

**lonelyboi69****: DarkFoxKit:** Yeesh, at least I never had it during quarantine, I've already graduated high school by now. But yeah, it was incredibly annoying back then. Didn't help that I was… not very popular in school. I was always the quiet girl nobody wanted to talk to, so everyone got annoyed with me pretty quickly, and I had nobody to really defend me.

**Questiontochihir****: Traveling Master: **The Puns actually came from Chihiro herself. She wasn't even intended to be a pun-loving Dragapult, but it accidently happened and I'm grateful that it did. So Dust being an Absol does open lots of opportunities to use puns. And it also makes Absol my favorite Pokemon pun. While having an Ice Pokemon making constant puns would be awesome, everyone can barely handle Chihiro and her puns, so having another pun loving Pokemon would be torture for them.

**Star Aries****: Traveling Master: **Brody is definitely higher than Dust and Berry. His level would roughly be around 33 to 35. Grant would be around 35 to 37. As for Al...hmm… We'll let that one be a surprise later. But out of the three, Grant is currently the strongest.

**Ruby Spice:** **DarkFoxKit:** Heh, thanks, it's a fun story for us, and we're writing it with passion. We have a lot of ideas too, so we're very motivated to keep going. The only thing stopping us is bad time management.

**Traveling Master: **I guess that's one bright side to this whole virus mess. We actually have more time to work on our time management.

**Dust:** Oh TM~ DF~

**Traveling Master.** Dust?! I told you to be quiet!

**Dust:** Oh, I know. But since you refused to teach me Flamethrower, I thought it would only be fair… *Dust then opened the door, revealing all our characters on the other side* ...if I told the others where you two were hiding.

**DarkFoxKit:** Screw you, Dust!


	18. Chapter 18: Downtime

**DarkFoxKit: *Looks around from underground*** Is it safe?

**Traveling Master: **Don't know. ***Looks around, seeing no sign of anyone else* **I think… the coast is clear… For now.

**DarkFoxKit:** Okay, then it should be safe. Maybe Dust finally decided enough was enough and crowded everyone back to our story. ***Slowly comes out***

**Traveling Maser: **Hopefully, but you can never be too careful with that Absol. We should probably get to the story soon, just to be safe. ***Climbs out after DF***

**DarkFoxKit:** Of course, of course. The computer is right over there. ***Goes over to the computer*** … TM? Why did you paint the computer pink?

**Traveling Master: **Pink? I didn't paint the computer. And if I did, I would've gone with black and red.

**DarkFoxKit:** Then why is the computer pink? ***Starts to upload the chapter***

**Traveling Master: **Alright, while you upload the chapter, I'll let the readers know what we have planned. ***Turns to face the readers* **So far me and DF have been working a lot with the story and upcoming chapters. New ideas that we plan, surprises and such. Recently we came across a new idea, but this time we want your help with this idea. It involves the Pokemon Amaura, and for a while we were trying to figure out whether or not this Pokemon should be a part of Team Night Tide or not. That's when we decided that you, ***Points at the readers* **can decide. There will be a poll on DarkFoxkit's profile on whether or not Amaura will be part of the team.

**DarkFoxKit:** Alright, the chapter is up, and so is the poll, now we can head back into the ho-

***The computer suddenly started to move***

**DarkFoxKit:** … Did… did the computer just… moved?

**Traveling Master: **Maybe you should step away from the moving computer.

**Computer: *Suddenly has a Ditto face*** Hiiiiiiiiiii~

**DarkFoxKit: **O.O RUUUUUUUUUN!

* * *

**Chapter 18: Downtime**

Carrie had this nagging feeling all day, but she didn't know why. She couldn't help but feel worried about Chloe, but she couldn't just leave, she was in the middle of an important meeting. A lot of the Pokemon in White Leaf Town were worried about the stolen goods and the break in. Many Crusaders feared for their items' safety, especially the rarer ones. Carrie had to reassure them that her warehouse was completely safe, and nothing important was stolen. The thief mostly stole food.

It had taken almost the entire day, but Carrie was finally free when Officier Arcanine promised to launch an investigation on the thief. Carrie decided to go check to see how Berry and Brody were doing with the kids, since the nagging feeling hadn't gone away yet, and she needed to know her babies were safe. She did consider Phantom and Spooks as her own children, especially since Chloe enjoyed playing with them all the time.

What Carrie didn't expect, however, when she was heading back towards the guild, she saw two familiar Dreepy playing with a boy and girl Nidoran, who were running around with a Nidoqueen and a Nidoking. Carrie frowned at this before she approached the Nido family.

"Uh… hi, excuse me," Carrie spoke up, getting their attention.

"Carrie!" Phantom and Spooks smiled, before they both realized that with Carrie here, and not Berry, Brody, and Chloe, they were about to have one angry mama.

"Carrie! Uh… what are you doing here?" Phantom asked nervously.

"I should be asking you two that." Carrie frowned before she looked at Nidoqueen. "These two should be with a Goomy and a Lucario. Have you seen them?"

"Not for a while. Last time I saw them my mate had knocked the Lucario away because he was flirting with me. That's when the Goomy and the others went to go find them. I was surprised to see only these two Dreepy return but they told me that the Lucario and Goomy had taken the third child with them for some errand," The Nidoqueen explained, but was now getting suspicious after see the concerned look on Carrie's face. "Is everything alright?"

"... The third child… was that a baby Kangaskhan?" Carrie asked.

"Yes, I'm assuming you're her mother?" Nidoqueen asked.

Carrie didn't answer, instead she turned towards Spooks and Phantom. "Do you know where Brody and Berry took Chloe?"

Phantom and Spooks were unsure what to say to Carrie.

"Uh… they… uh…" Spooks stuttered.

"They went on a stroll, yeah, they… they should be back soon," Phantom spoke up.

Carrie wasn't buying any of it, she's taken care of Phantom and Spooks many times before to know when they were hiding something. "Okay, if that's the case, why is it that you two decided to stay behind? You are supposed to be with them at all times."

"We… didn't feel like walking," Spooks said.

"Spooks, we can't walk, we float!" Phantom hissed.

"R-right! That's w-what I meant! Floating, not walking!" Spooks stuttered.

"Excuse us, I need to have a talk with these two," Carrie said politely to the Nidos.

"Yes, of course," Nidoqueen answered before she took Nidoking's hands. "Come on, darling. You two as well."

The Nidorans nodded before they followed their parents as they walked away from Carrie and the two Dreepy.

"Phantom, Spooks, I want you two to tell me exactly what happened and I want the truth. Brody and Berry would never irresponsibly leave you two with strangers unless they had a good reason," Carrie stated firmly.

"But we weren't left alone!" Spooks protested.

"I didn't say you were alone, I said you were with strangers," Carrie corrected.

"That's not what he meant. They left us with two other guild members," Phantom corrected.

"And who are these two members who left you with these strangers?" Carrie was starting to lose her patience.

"Uh… I think they were Brody's teammates?" Spooks answered.

Just then a familiar Grovyle and Charmeleon had walked around the corner, with the latter carrying lots of food.

"I'd say we hit the jackpot tonight, Grant, this will keep us fat for a week!" Al grinned, licking his lips at all the food he was carrying.

"Still can't see why this couldn't have waited till later," Grant grunted.

"You heard that salesmon. These were on sale only for a short time. We had to get them!" Al argued. But suddenly Grant stopped, almost causing Al to bump into him. "Grant? What up?"

Grant didn't say anything, but Al recognized that look on his face. He followed his partner's gaze and saw an angry Carrie giving the both of them death glares.

"...Oh…" Al said after realizing why Grant had stopped.

Carrie began to approach the two of them. "So… let me get this straight, Berry and Brody left Phantom and Spooks in your care for whatever reason, and you two just leave the Guildmaster's, _your_ Guildmaster's, grandchildren to two strangers, so you could go get something TO FILL YOUR BELLIES!?"

They both flinched at her shouting. Grant was thinking of what to say, hoping to somehow calm the angry Kangeskhan from skinning them alive, unfortunately Al beat him to it.

"H-hey! It's not our fault that our leader and his Goomy girlfriend left them with us so they could go save the baby Kangaskhan from an outlaw kidnapper!" Al said.

At that, the air went cold. Grant's mouth hung open in shock and fear, Carrie stared at them as the words sunk into her head. Phantom and Spooks quickly backed away, knowing that the hurricane was coming. Al just realized what he said, and seeing the rage build up inside Carrie, he did the first thing that came to mind. He held up one of his berries and offered it up to her.

"...Uh...Berry?" Al gave a nervous smile while Grant just facepalmed himself.

Literal fire surrounded the very angry Kangaskhan and she gave a loud roar. It wasn't something that Carrie often did, but she ended up using Outrage on Al and Grant, causing an explosion in the area. Phantom and Spooks were _really_ glad that Carrie wasn't facing them when she used it.

Once the smoke had cleared from the recent attack, Phantom and Spooks saw only a huge black spot on the ground, most likely from where Carrie aimed her attack. But there was no sign of Grant or Al anywhere, but suddenly Carrie reached down towards the black spot and grabbed two black figures from the ground.

"You two! You are going to help me track down this outlaw until I get my baby back! DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME!?" Carrie roared at the two.

"...Crystal," Al managed to cough out.

"...Clear," Grant added.

Carrie then turned to Phantom and Spooks, both went stiff under her gaze, then Carrie gave a sickly sweet smile.

"Phantom, Spooks~ I'm going to need you two to head back into the guild and talk to your grandma for me~" Carrie smiled.

"Yes ma'am!" They both shouted at the same time before scurrying off back to the guild.

Now that Phantom and Spooks were gone, Carrie turned her attention back to Grant and Al. "Now, where did this outlaw go?"

Before the Charmeleon and Groyvle could answer, a Carriage pulled up. The Carriage was being pulled by Midday Form Lycanrocs, two of them. They weren't horse-like Pokemon, but they were strong and fast enough to pull Carriages just fine. Brody and Dust jumped off of the Carriage.

"Thanks for the ride, we know we sort of hitchhiked at the last minute, so this will be something for your troubles," Brody said, handing the Lycanroc to the left a big bag of Poke.

"Thank you~" The Lycanroc smirked, sounding female, taking the bag.

Carrie's eyes homed in on Chloe, who was in the Lucario's arms, with Berry beside her.

Both Brody and Dust suddenly felt a sense of dread come over them. Dust was confused by the sudden feeling but Brody instantly recognized it, having felt it before. He turned around just in time to see Carrie drop Grant and Al as she started making her way towards them.

"Uh oh," Brody nervously said.

"Mommy!" Chloe smiled, happy to see her mommy again.

Carrie didn't hesitate to take Chloe from Brody's hold and hug her child. Chloe started crying as soon as she was safe in her mother's hug.

"I was so scared, Mommy! That bad outlaw kidnapped me and tried to use me to blackmail the Crusaders!" Chloe cried.

"Shhh… there, there, Chloe… sweetie… you're safe now… Mommy's got you…" Carrie said soothingly.

Berry slipped out of Brody's hold, wanting to appear healthier and stronger than she felt after seeing the mother and child reuniting. She also knew she would have to appear this way in order to take the scolding and possibly a mother's wrath once Carrie finished comforting Chloe. Berry was also glad the ice had fully melted off of her by now.

Carrie turned her attention back to Berry, Brody and Dust, giving them a fierce glare. "You three have some explaining to do."

"It was my fault, Carrie," Berry spoke up quickly. "Brody got punched far away by someone's husband, so I was left with the children. We went to go find Brody when this outlaw Snubbull grabbed onto Chloe. I tried my best to stop them, I really did. I hopped after them, tried to use my attack to slow them down, but my Dragon Breath didn't do anything, and the Snubbull managed to run out of town. I'm sorry, I should've been more responsible. If you're going to punish anyone, punish me. I only dragged Dust into this, he had nothing to do with Chloe's kidnapping, he just came to help rescue her."

"And why didn't you come get me?" Carrie asked.

"Well apparently the Snubbull had threatened to harm Chloe if Berry had brought you or the Guildmaster." Dust spoke up, wanting to defend Berry's case. "She demanded something called the Syzygy and would only return Chloe if Berry brought it to her."

Carrie stared at the three of them before speaking once more. "Back to the guild, now. And I expect to hear the whole story when we get back."

* * *

Brody had been carrying Al and Grant since they were covered in soot, and neither were able to move. Dust offered to carry Berry, but Berry insisted on slithering herself. Dust wondered why Berry had been so adamant about being carried.

It was slow, since Brody had to drag two of his teammates, and Berry's slithering was slower than usual. Carrie didn't seem to mind, she was busy comforting her child. Dust was both dreading and anxious to get to Chihiro's office. He really didn't want Berry to have to go through another punishment for something that was completely out of her control this time.

They finally made it to the Guildmaster Office. Chihiro was there, she had likely heard the story from Phantom and Spooks.

"Carrie, I see Chloe is safe and sound," Chihiro gave a sigh of relief.

"Yes, she is. I was about to take Al and Grant to go after the outlaw ourselves when Berry, Brody, and Dust had just showed up with my child." Carrie explained.

"Hmm...Well from what I've been told, you three have quite the story to share," Chihiro noted. "Please, tell us everything that happened."

Berry decided to start since she was the witness to Chloe's kidnapping. Though she was having trouble staying focused as everything started to blur around her.

Dust took over once Berry got to the part where they were at the entrance to Phoenix Dungeon. Brody's story was straight forward, he went through the dungeon himself when he and Team Night Tide split up. Berry had been too stubborn to let them leave until they found Chloe and the Snubbull. They began talking about their meeting with the shiny Trapinch, when Dust and Berry felt incredibly dizzy.

"Dust? Berry? Are you two alright?" Chihiro asked in concern when she noticed they were wobbling a little.

Dust tried to speak up but his entire vision blurred and suddenly everything looked like it was flipped on its side. He realized then he had just collapsed. He tried to get up but to no avail. Berry on the other hand only seemed to slink further and further to the ground, her body becoming almost flat due. They saw Chihiro saying something but couldn't make out her words, and soon, both Dust and Berry succumbed to their exhaustion.

* * *

When Dust opened his eyes again, he found himself lying in a familiar bed, with familiar surroundings. It was a place he had hoped he wouldn't have to come back again so soon, the same place he almost died in.

"Ah, I see you've awakened. You've been here so many times it's hard to tell if you're a student or a patient," Dust looked up to see Dr. Perfume was in the room checking on him. "How are you feeling?"

"...Tired…" Dust answered before realizing it was only him and Dr. Perfume in the room. "Wait, where's Berry?"

"She is in another room being looked after by one of my nurses," Dr. Perfume answered. "You seemed to have suffered from heat exhaustion, as well as energy exhaustion. Absol aren't meant to be in a hot environment. Absol are usually seen in snowy areas. But I'm not sure what caused your energy exhaustion other than you overdoing it."

"Actually…" Dust was about to explain how Brody had used Close Combat on him when he was under the influence of Attract, but remembered how after that whole ordeal with the Snubbull, all the pain in his body was gone. He wasn't sure how to explain it and was trying to figure it out himself.

When Dust hadn't said anything in a while, Dr. Perfume continued. "What I found strange was that other than your exhaustion, your body was physically fine. I didn't see any wounds on you. Your partner, on the other hand, had multiple bruises, as well as a bite mark on her side. Her body is suffering from heat exhaustion as well, and it looked like she had been dehydrated. A desert is not a good place for a Goomy. She might have to stay here a little longer."

"Will she be alright?!" Dust asked, forgetting about himself.

"Calm down," Dr. Perfume spoke up. "Berry will be alright, but she will need to stay in the guild for a few days to a week to recover. The bad environment, and whatever battle she had while in the place put a strain on her body."

"...Do you mind if I check on her?" Dust was already getting up, not really waiting for an answer.

"Like I said, she's in the next room. But afterwards come back, you still need a full rest before you can officially leave." Dr. Perfume answered as he opened the door to let Dust out.

The Absol thanked Dr. Perfume and walked through the door. He looked to the next door, and slapped it a few times to knock. A nurse Wigglytuff opened the door.

"Oh, Dust. I take it you're here to see Berry?" The Wigglytuff asked.

"Yes...How is she doing?" Even though Dr. Perfume had just explained to Dust earlier, he still asked.

"She's currently sleeping. We are monitoring her conditions, but right now all she needs is time to recover," Wigglytuff answered Dust. "Would you like some time with her alone?"

"Yes, please," Dust thanked the Wigglytuff as she exited the room.

Dust didn't say anything as he stared at his partner, who was lying in a watery tank, her body slowly rising and lowering with each breath she took. Dust felt strange standing there, unable to do anything to help his partner.

_Is this what Berry went through? Is this how she felt when I was here last time?_ Dust thought about how he would feel if Dr. Perfume told him that Berry was in danger of dying instead of reassuring him that she would be fine in a few days.

Dust noticed that Berry wasn't wearing her scarf right now. He saw the Defense Scarf was currently lying on a counter.

Dust didn't know how long he stood there, not that he really cared. All that was on his mind was just being there for his partner, despite Berry being unconscious he didn't mind staying there. He was so focused on Berry that he hadn't noticed Dr. Perfume entered the room. A tap from the doctor made Dust jump a bit, before realizing who it was.

"Oh, Dr. Perfume, sorry didn't see you there," Dust apologized but then frowned. "I'm guessing you're here to tell me to come back and rest?"

Dr. Perfume lightly chuckled before answering the Absol. "Close, but my nurse had told me you wanted to spend some time with your partner. While you still need your rest, I see no problem with you resting here. You can use the bed there. Me or my nurse will come to occasionally check on you two."

Dust smiled at the Aromatisse. "Thank you Dr. Perfume."

"Carrie or Chihiro may come see you in the morning," Dr. Perfume stated. "Right now, it's midnight, so they're likely asleep at the moment. Try to get some sleep yourself for tonight. Berry isn't going anywhere."

"I understand," Dust noted.

Dr. Perfumed nodded at Dust before leaving the Absol alone with his partner. Dust took a moment to examine the bed and was glad that it was actually pretty close to Berry's water tank. He hopped on top of the bed, making sure to face Berry before laying down. He didn't fall asleep at first, instead he just layed there, staring at Berry as she continued to sleep, wondering how long it would be until she would wake up. It was the first time Dust cared for anyone other than his mother this time before, it was a strange feeling.

After some time Dust felt his eyelids grow heavy, he tried to stay awake but many times he found himself dosing off. He wanted to stay up, hoping that Berry would randomly wake up, but as time went by, Dust found it harder and harder to fight off his exhaustion. Eventually he fell asleep, with the last thing he saw was Berry, sleeping in her watery tank.

* * *

Dust woke to some giggling noises. When he opened his eyes, he saw the face of a Dreepy right in front of him. The Dreepy gave a happy smile when they saw him open his eyes.

"Hey! Welcome back to the world of the waken!" It was Phantom.

Dust stretched and let out a yawn before replying to Phantom. "Morning Phantom."

"Morning?" Phantom giggled once more. "Dust, it's past the afternoon."

"What?!" Dust suddenly got up, no longer feeling tired. He then turned to Berry, hoping that she might be awake, but to his disappointment, she was still sleeping. So he sat down as he continued to stare at her.

Phantom looked at Dust for a moment. "You know, if you keep staring at her, someone might think you have an obsession with her."

Without taking his eyes off Berry, Dust replied back to Phantom. "Well she is my partner and my first friend...I just...keep thinking that any moment she's gonna wake up. And I want to be there when she does."

"Heh, maybe you are a little bit obsessed with her," Phantom chuckled. "Berry's spirit is strong, so she'll wake up soon."

Phantom then flew up suddenly, and Dust noticed a large shadow towering over him.

"Well, well, well, look who finally joined the land of the living once more," Chihiro chuckled.

"Hello Guildmaster, while it is nice to be back, I think this is much better than last time I was here," Dust turned to face Chihiro while giving her a smile.

"Indeed, last time you were in ABSOLute peril," Chihiro remarked, chuckling at her own pun. "And with you looking after your partner, that is BERRY sweet of you."

Both Dust and Phantom cringed at Chihiro's puns, but Dust still was grateful for the kind words.

"Thank you...What happened after me and Berry had passed out? Did Brody tell the rest of our story?" Dust asked, remembering how they never finished recounting their adventure from yesterday.

"Well… Brody did his best to tell us what happened during the battle with the outlaw Snubbull, but his memory appears to be spotty at best. So we didn't get the full details, just what happened at the start of the battle, and the tail end of it," Chihiro answered. "But as for what happened after you and Berry passed out so suddenly on us, Carrie picked both of you up and took you to the Medical Bay. Phantom and Spooks were very worried, and so was I actually. The last time you collapsed so suddenly, you nearly died. We were all relieved to hear it was just exhaustion. I suppose it wasn't fair of us to keep you and Berry from getting a much needed rest after going through that hectic adventure to save Chloe."

"...Are Berry and Brody going to be punished again? I mean, this time it wasn't even their fault," Dust asked, concerned for both his partner and for Brody.

Chihiro shook her head. "We decided to wait until after hearing the whole story, it wouldn't be fair to punish them just yet. But from what I've heard so far, you won't have to worry about them receiving any punishments. We'll be waiting in my office for you to finish telling your tale."

Dust nodded, relieved that Chihiro was allowing him and Berry to rest before having to finish reporting on what happened on the mission. If it was up to Dust, he would've chosen to stay there until Berry had woken up, but he knew that he would have to leave eventually. He stayed for a little while longer but decided that it was about time for him to go.

Before leaving Dust placed his right paw against the glass tank, trying to think of what to say. After a minute passed only one thing came to mind. "Get well soon, Berry."

* * *

Dust was looking at the Dragapault in the Guildmaster office. He noticed that Phantom and Spooks weren't in the room with them. Chihiro looked to be doing a lot of paperwork.

"So… the fact that you're here tells me that you're ready to report on the rest of what happened," Chihiro noted. "Whenever you're ready, feel free to share."

Dust nodded and continued with his report. He recalled the last thing he and Berry had mentioned was their encounter with the shiny Trapinch and went on from there. He told her of his battle with Trapinch and the sudden rain, despite being underground, only to find out that Berry had just used Rain Dance. Then he explained how they were later able to exit the underground tunnels and return to the surface and come face to face with the outlaw Snubbull. Dust explained how they tried using the guild's badge as a bluff, hoping to fool Snubbull long enough to rescue Chloe.

"When that failed, that's when Brody showed up," Dust explained. "At first things were looking good on our side, but then that Snubbull used Attract on Brody."

"Attract, well that does explain why Brody was having a difficult time telling his side of the story," Chihiro noted. "And knowing him, he must've become a difficult obstacle."

"You are correct, Brody had Chloe in his arms, ready to hand her over to Snubbull, who was also holding Berry against her will. Things really did take a turn for the worst," Dust added.

"So how were you able to get out of it?" Chihiro questioned. "No offense to you, but Brody, while he is in the Bronze Rank, has the power to rival a Gold Rank. And if your partner was out of commission at the time, and you had no other help, how were you able to still rescue Chloe and defeat the Snubbull? This sounded like a no-win situation for you."

Dust paused for a moment, for he wasn't even exactly sure how that happened. "Well...It's true, I stood no chance in a fight against Brody. At first I figured the best option would be to fire an Ice Beam and hopefully freeze him, but he quickly countered my attack...Shortly after he used Closed Combat, it's still a surprise I was even conscious after the attack. Though I think he was just holding back, else I don't think I would've even been here to share my report."

"I'm thankful the outlaw hadn't ordered Brody to go all out on you," Chihiro remarked. "So, it still sounded like you were in a no-win situation. What happened after that?"

Dust gave a slight chuckle before continuing. "Well after that...I'm honestly not sure myself. You see, as my body was in pain...I felt this new sensation in my head. At first I didn't know what it was, but suddenly the only thing I felt was a massive pain in my head. It was like no headache I've ever felt before. It was almost like my mind was being ripped apart. I could hardly move, but I saw Brody was about to use Blaze Kick, most likely an order from Snubbull to put me out of my misery. Luckily just before he could deliver the attack, it started raining, preventing him from using it. And that's when everything became…"

"Became what?" Chihiro asked after the long pause from Dust.

"I don't know how to fully explain it," Dust admitted. "Suddenly the pain was gone from my head, but that wasn't the strangest part. Despite it raining, Snubbull had ordered Brody to finish the job. And that's when I could see it. I could see Brody's attacks before he even started them. It was as though I was seeing a future version of himself and his attacks. Because of that I was able to dodge almost all his attacks. Though at the very last moment I lost my footing on the sand and even though I saw his next attack coming, there was no way for me to dodge it, but suddenly he stopped. Turns out Snubbull's Attract had lost its hold on Brody."

"Hmm…" Chihiro appeared to be deep in thought about something. "You said that you felt pain in your head, then you were able to see future versions of Brody? Seeing his attacks before they even happened?"

Dust nodded in confirmation.

"I see… Did you… hear any voices in your head just before then?" Chihiro questioned in a suspicious tone.

"...I…" Dust paused for a moment. He did recall hearing something, but couldn't tell if it was actually someone talking to him or just his mind going crazy from all the pain he felt. He was considering telling Chihiro of the voice he thought he might have heard but suddenly felt nervous for some reason. Unsure why he felt that way, so Dust decided to keep that part to himself. "I can't recall. All I remember was the intense pain I felt."

"Okay… let's say this was some miracle for now. But if it happens again, I want you to tell me as soon as possible," Chihiro instructed.

"Will do." Dust nodded while saying so.

"But there are still other questions about that battle that I haven't gotten answers to," Chihiro said, changing the subject. "Such as how did Snubull's Attract wear off so suddenly."

Dust nodded, already having an idea. "I think that might have been Berry's doing. After Brody had broken from the trance, we later heard a scream and saw that Snubbull was using Ice Fang on Berry. She might have done something to cause Snubbull's Attract to wear off."

"Ah, so Berry must've gotten enough energy back when it started raining to fight back against Snubbull," Chihiro noted. "It seems you and Berry saved each other today, and I am glad you were able to save little Chloe from that outlaw. Carrie might've murdered the Snubbull, a Kangaskhan's motherly instincts will go haywire if their baby is in danger, that's something not even civilized Kangaskhan can control."

"Well that is...good to know for the future," Dust gave a nervous chuckle, remembering how he felt sudden dread when they last saw Carrie. But there was still something bothering him. "Maybe Brody explained it, but one thing I was curious about is why did he give the Snubbull the chance to leave? Surely he could've easily taken her down, especially after knowing that she knows Attract. Did Brody ever explain why?"

Chihiro sighed. "He didn't need to for me. I already know why."

Dust blinked. "Then why?"

The Dragapault shook her head. "I'm afraid that will have to be something you hear from Brody himself, it's a personal matter for him. But I will say that next time an outlaw kidnaps a child, whether they threaten to hurt them or not if you tell someone, you should still come to me at the very least. I am an expert on when it comes to hostage situations. I know how to get the child or children back without the outlaw knowing."

At this, Chihiro gave a very mischievous and dark grin that sent chills down the Absol's spine.

Wanting to change the subject, Dust grabbed his badge, remembering why the Snubbull had kidnap Chloe in the first place. "I also had another question. What exactly is a Syzygy? I know it's a term normally used to describe a lunar or solar eclipse. But when I tossed the outlaw my badge, for a moment she believed that we had just given her a Syzygy. Is it a nickname for some object in the guild?"

Chihiro looked at Dust for a long moment, as if studying him, or his very soul. It made Dust feel nervous and a little bit exposed, it also made his curious mind wonder if Ghost types could see other Pokemon's souls.

"I suppose I owe you an explanation after everything you went through, for both this guild and for us," Chihiro finally said softly. "But be warned, this is sensitive information, not everyone in this guild knows about it. I'm not sure how that outlaw found out about it, but if I am to tell you, I order that you keep it a secret, understood?"

Dust felt even more nervous then he had before. Part of him was actually considering refusing, as the saying goes, ignorance is bliss. But another part of him couldn't help but feel curious. The same feeling he got every time he was about to do something he knew would get him into trouble, but he couldn't help himself, he always had to know. While he was still debating on whether or not to accept this secret, he recalled his old Guild Master's mission, how Grace had tasked him with finding a certain object within Unity Guild. If this was the item Grace was talking about, then this would help him return back home.

After some consideration, Dust finally gave a nod of confirmation as he braced himself for what he is about to learn.

"The Syzygy is a meteorite stone that had fallen to this planet over several millennia ago," Chihiro began. "It was founded by my ancestor, and it had been passed down in my family's generation ever since. We had found out about its power, and we knew about consequences if such power were to ever get out. The Syzygy is indeed powerful, but also dangerous. If put in the wrong hands, the Pokemon, be they wild or civilized, can and will lose control of themselves and go on a rampage, a destructive rampage. We had seen first hand just how much damage a single Pokemon could do with this Syzygy. While destroying the Syzygy was something we took into consideration, we also realized that it can also be a big help in case we would ever need it for whatever reason. When I founded this guild, I kept the Syzygy in a safe and hidden place. The badges were based off of the Syzygy itself, I guess you could say that it did help tribute to the creation of Unity Guild. I would only tell a trusted few about the Syzygy in case I may need help keeping it safe from thieves and other outlaws. It is unfortunate, but I suppose the history of the Syzygy's power never truly faded, so it is still possible for Pokemon to hear about it."

Dust was very fascinated as Chihiro explained about the Syzygy that the Snubbull had wanted so bad.

"But I also believe, that despite the Syzygy's power, it can also help bring out a Pokemon's potential. It's why I keep it in the guild in hopes of Pokemon who are normally seen as weak, could become strong, and make a name for themselves," Chihiro admitted. "I didn't like how guilds had these rules where only the strong species of Pokemon were allowed to join, while the weaker ones were never given a chance to even try to prove themselves. It was one of the reasons why I founded this guild. As a Dreepy, I was seen as weak, not many Pokemon knew about my evolution either. There could be hundreds of 'weak' Pokemon that have stronger forms that they never knew about, and even if they don't, they can still tribute to a team that is right for them."

It was a lot for Dust to take in, but after hearing everything, he now had a better understanding of what it meant to be part of Unity Guild.

"...Thank you for sharing this with me." Dust finally replied.

"Just remember that this is a secret for a reason. With great knowledge comes great responsibility, and I expect you to keep it a secret, understood?" Chihiro asked with a sense of warning in her voice.

"I understand." Dust agreed.

"If you do consider telling your partner, you'll need to come here and ask for my permission first," Chihiro added. "You should know the only reason I'm telling you about this is because your and Berry's lives were put at risk for it, and I do trust you two enough not to blab about it at the very least."

Dust chuckled a bit at the thought. Normally when he discovered any such information, the first thing he would do is blab to any one who happened to be nearby. But this time he would have to make sure to keep it a secret, something he wasn't really used to.

After a moment of pause, Dust replied back to Chihiro. "Well, I will absolutely do my best to keep it a secret."

Chihiro gave a surprisingly light hearted smile. "I will Dust off my trust just for you, and make ABSOLutley sure that you would give me a Berry and sweet information on the tired Goomy's recovery~"

Dust tried to hold back his cringe, but Chihiro easily noticed it and gave a hearty laugh.

"You don't have to like my puns for me to trust you… though it would be nice to get a decent laugh or two," Chihiro remarked. "Now, is there anything more you want to discuss while you're here?"

"Are Berry and Brody still going to be punished?" Dust asked with concern.

"No, they won't," Chihiro assured. "They did nothing wrong, they acted what they thought was the best course of action, even if they should've came to me at the very least when Chloe was kidnapped. I can still understand why they felt they couldn't, because I was busy, and they didn't want to worry Carrie. And the outlaw _did_ issue a threat of hurting Chloe if they told anyone, honestly, if I was about Berry's age, I would feel the best thing to do was to go after the outlaw myself as well."

Dust gave a sigh of relief. "That's good to know. Well that covers about every of my questions."

"Alright then. I will dismiss you. You are free to do as you like, research at the lab, shop at White Leaf Town, or just wait for Berry's recovery if you prefer. If you want to take on missions, you'll need someone to watch your back while your partner is recovering," Chihiro informed.

The Absol gave a nod to Chihiro before he walked out of her office.

* * *

As Dust was walking to the lab, seeing how Berry wasn't awake yet, he saw Talon, with Tippi on his back, looking ready to head out.

"Talon, Tippi!" Dust called out to them. "It's been awhile since we last saw each other. How have you two been?"

"Hey, Dust, we've been… great," Talon said hesitantly. "Hey, Tippi? Why don't you check to make sure we have everything in our bag before we leave?"

"Fine, whatever," Tippi grumbled before she crawled off of Talon's back and Talon took off the bag he had around his waist and opened it for her.

Talon then hopped over to Dust and whispered to him. "Tippi's been a bit moody lately. She's also been eating a lot more than normal, so much so that I notice that she's gaining a bit of weight if you know what I mean."

Dust gave a curious look after taking a moment to look at Tippi. "Well she does seem a bit larger than last time I saw her."

"Don't talk about it too loudly," Talon hissed. "I've been a bit concerned about her. You know how a lot of bird Pokemon like to eat Bug types, right? With how much she's been eating and gaining weight, she's gotten heavier for me to carry, and I worry that the bird Pokemon we run into in this dungeon we're going in might start to see her as appetizing."

"Hmm…" Dust took another moment to look at Tippi. "I can see how that would be concerning. A Caterpie that size would surely draw the attention of any wild Bird Pokemon looking for a meal. Is it wise to take on a mission when she's like that?"

"I wanted to stay here until she got over with whatever's got her craving food," Talon sighed. "But she insisted on going after we received this mission from Chihiro. Apparently it's the same Snivy we saved a while back, and she wants our help for something. I don't know why it has to be us specifically… I'm not really a big fan of the Snivy line."

Dust frowned. "If you don't mind me asking, why is that?"

"A Serperior ate my family once," Talon answered. "I was the only survivor, and the only reason I survived was because Chihiro happened to be there before I was eaten."

Dust was taken back by Talon's response. He was not expecting something like that to have happened to Talon in his past. "...I'm...sorry that happened...Um…"

"It happened a long time ago," Talon waved a wing. "Don't worry about it. The Unity Guild is my family now. But that is why I'm concerned for my partner, I don't want her getting eaten."

"Well...I can see how that would give you a negative view on Snivy. I'm not sure how I would react if my mother was suddenly gone. You don't think this Snivy would actually eat your partner, do you?" Dust asked, still feeling slightly uncomfortable about the recent topic.

"I doubt the Snivy would be interested in eating a Bug type, but I am wary of that." Talon frowned.

"We have everything, so are you ready or what?" Tippi asked, clearly in an annoyed mood, something Dust wasn't used to seeing on the normally timid and quiet Caterpie.

"Ready as I'll ever be," Talon gave a small chuckle.

"Good luck on your mission," Then Dust crouched low towards Talon and Tippi while lowering his voice. "And Tippi, some advice. With all the weight you've accumulated, it might be best to watch what you eat. You're partner says he's been having a difficult time carrying you."

Dust gave a wink to Talon, recalling Talon's warning about mentioning Tippi's weight too loud. Talon just stood there, shocked with his beak wide open.

"What… are you calling me fat!?" Tippi snapped. "I have half a mind to cover you in String Shot right now!"

"Aaahhhh! N-no! Dust is just being a well intention idiot! Don't mind him!" Talon quickly said as he frantically flapped his wings before he flew up, grabbed onto the fuming Caterpie and his bag with his talons. "We should get to that mission now, don't want to keep that Snivy client waiting!"

With that, Talon flew away quickly, though he did wavered around a bit, showing he was struggling carrying both the bag and Tippi at the same time. And Dust was left there, wondering why Tippi was so angry at him suddenly. He shrugged it off as he continued on his way towards the lab.

* * *

"Dust? What've you been researching this time? You seemed pretty buried in your work," Otti asked, who was currently a Breloom.

Dust was currently looking through a microscope, with his badge on the glass panel for him to observe. Without taking his eyes off, he replied back to Otti. "I've been curious lately by our guild's badge. They were already fascinating before, but now I want to further study them. Like how is something so small able to teleport crusaders out of the dungeons? Not including how it also brings other Pokemon with us when we are doing a rescue mission. Never really had thought on our badges too much before, but after yesterday, my curiosity was touched once more concerning these badges."

"Hmm… what kind of theories do you have right now about the badges?" Otti questioned curiously.

"Well so far one theory I have is that they emit a unique type of energy wave. One that is connected to the guild itself. Perhaps upon receiving them, Crusaders are somewhat…" Dust paused for a moment, trying to find the right words. "Recorded, in a way. The badges themselves would only respond to a Crusaders commands, at least that would explain how only guild members are able to use the badges. Wouldn't do good if an outlaw had gotten their paws on our badge and was able to use them like we do.

"Another possible theory is that perhaps they are made from the same materials as the special orbs, such as Escape Orbs," Dust explained. "But then that raises the question, what exactly are the orbs made from. I know it would be some form of glass material, but then where do their origins begin. But that would be a topic for another time. As for the badges, if they are made from the same materials as the Orbs, perhaps that is how they are used to teleport out of Dungeons. But one major difference is that while we can use them any number of times, Orbs are only used once, so this theory is most unlikely. But those are just two ideas that come to mind."

Of course there was one specific theory Dust had that he kept to himself. He wanted to share it, but it was about how the badges were somehow connected to the Syzygy that Chihiro had explained to him earlier. But due to it being a very secretive topic, Dust had decided to keep that one to himself.

"Hehe, those are all very interesting theories," The Breloom-Ditto chuckled. "There's a lot going into the making of a guild's badge. Many of them are made with the same materials and power in mind."

Dust looked away from the badge, curious by what Otti said. "Power in mind?"

"The power to teleport Pokemon out of a Mystery Dungeon, having similar properties to an Escape Orb, of course once used, the badges would take at least half a day to recharge, that's why teams who plan to go on multiple missions in one day are advised to take an Escape Orb or two with them," Otti informed.

"Interesting," Dust noted. "I didn't know about the badges having to recharge. It's a good thing that me and Berry have only been doing one mission a day so far. Would've been very unfortunate if we ended up stuck in the dungeon with no means of getting out."

"Heh, not to worry, if there was a cause for an emergency exit, the badges would've likely activated a failsafe system that would automatically teleport you out of the dungeon, but it would be wise not to go back in for two days if that were to happen unless you have a few Escape Orbs with you," Otti chuckled. "New teams usually don't take multiple missions in one day. Higher ranks are more likely to do that, it helps them get stronger without having to use the Dojo, and help Pokemon at the same time, while also earning them more points to push their ranks up. Though higher ranks also tend to take on long term missions as well, which is why you hardly see any around here these days."

"That does explain why I've only seen other Bronze Rank members so far. The only Silver Rank team I know of is… Team Crimson Raiders." Dust frowned.

"Team Crimson Raiders are an interesting bunch. They don't usually stick around the guild for long unless they're in training," Otti informed. "Once they're done with that, they're very focused on whatever mission they take. But enough about that. I feel like you've spent a long enough time in the lab today. You should go out, get some fresh air, maybe do some shopping at White Leaf Town."

"Nonsense. I haven't been here that long. There's still more I need to study," Dust explained.

"Dust, it was morning when you came in here. It's evening now," Otti deadpanned.

"...Oh...well I suppose I might've lost track of time," Dust said while giving an embarrassed laugh. "But can't really blame me. As a fellow researcher you know how easily we get lost in our research."

"Yes, but even I know when to call it quits for the day," Otti chuckled before transforming into a Hoothoot. "And my internal clock says you've been in here long enough. You haven't even eaten anything all day. I suggest you go out and get something nice, maybe check on Berry to see if she had woken up yet. And also, didn't you say you saved up enough Poke to afford at least a cheap T.M now?"

"Hmm...I did find some interesting things at the market yesterday, but didn't have the chance to get anything after running into Berry. I suppose I have studied enough for today." Dust agreed. "Thank you for reminding me. Actually, now that I think about it, do you know much about Fairy types?"

Otti transformed herself into a Clefairy. "A little bit. They are a bit of a rarer type, not as rare as Dragons, but still not that common. Why do you ask?"

Dust took a moment to look at Otti, amazed by her ability to transform. "Well yesterday me and Berry had fought against a Snubbull, and we were both struggling against the Fairy Pokemon. Would you happen to know any moves that me and Berry could learn to better face off against Fairy types in the future?"

"Weren't you struggling because the Snubbull took over Brody with her Attract?" Otti asked.

Before Dust could answer, Otti spoke up again. "Though it is true that your team does share that common weakness to Fairy. It would be wise if one of you could learn a Steel or Poison type move to counteract the Fairy types."

"Well hopefully the market will have a Steel or Poison type move for me and Berry." Dust replied. "Um… can Berry learn any Steel or Poison type moves?"

"Well… not much is known about the Goomy line, I haven't been able to study them enough to know every T.M they could possibly learn. But I do remember seeing a Goomy using a Sludge type of attack before. Some thought a Goomy was a Poison type due to this," Otti answered. "So perhaps Berry might be able to learn something like Sludge, Sludge Bomb, or Sludge Wave. Though Sludge Wave tends to hit everyone around the user, so you probably don't want to give her that one."

"Noted, thank you for the help, Otti," Dust thanked the Clefairy as he gathered his stuff. "Oh, while I'm at the market, do you need anything from there?"

"I'm good for the moment, just try not to lose track of time while shopping," Otti advised.

With that Dust said his goodbyes and left the lab.

The Absol, though he wouldn't admit, felt stiff from sitting too long, and the fresh air outside the guild smelled really nice. It also helped that the air was clear and free from a city's pollution, something he had grown used to all those years back at his old guild, but this was a new change that he had been getting used to.

"Definitely a nice change of scenario," Dust mostly said to himself as he made his way towards White Leaf Town.

Despite it being late in the afternoon, the town square was still busy as ever, with Pokemon of all different shapes and sizes going along their business, acquiring all sorts of different items on their bucket list. Dust didn't pay them too much attention, he's only focus was to tackle his own shopping list. He knew that he and Berry were low on supplies, and while the guild would provide some extra berries, after hearing about Otti's advice concerning Escape Orbs, Dust felt it wouldn't hurt to have some of their own. After spending a good minute of looking around, he finally found the Kecleon's shop, with the two Kecleon having just finished business with a Marill. Seeing that Dust was next, the two Kecleon happily greet the young Absol.

"Welcome to our shop!" The two brothers greeted.

"Ah, Dust, always good to see you," The green Kecleon remarked. "How can I help you today?"

"Salutations to you too," Dust happily replied. "I was hoping to purchase some Escape Orbs, and possibly any TMs you two may have."

"You're in luck, I just got some Escape Orbs in stock today, how many would you like?" The green brother asked.

"I'll check out our TM stocks to see what's in today," The purple Kecleon stated before heading to the back of their shop.

"How much are your Escape Orbs?" Dust asked while looking at each one.

"300 Poke for one Escape Orb," The green Kecleon informed.

Dust took a moment to look in his bag to see how much Poke he had. _Hmm, I definitely have enough to purchase a few Escape Orbs, but I should probably see what TMs they have first._

After waiting a bit, the purple Kecleon returned with all the TMs that they owned.

"Here's all our TMs, see any that you want?" The purple brother asked.

The Absol began to look through the box of TMs. Otti had recommended the moves for him and Berry, he just hoped he could find those moves in the box. There were quite a few good ones, like Surf, Hyper Beam, Flamethrower, Shadow Ball, and Solar Beam. However, his mismatched eyes found one TM disc that was silver, which indicated it was a Steel type move, the label said 'Iron Tail'. Dust noted the Iron Tail TM and continued to look through the box until he came across a purple disc. The label on the Poison type disc was 'Sludge Bomb'. Of course, the prices on those TMs made him suck a breath. Iron Tail was 8000 Poke, while Sludge Bomb was 7500, neither were very cheap.

"Is there a problem?" The purple Kecleon asked, noticing the Absol's expression.

"...Um...no. It's just, I see two TMs that I actually would love to purchase, but I was not expecting either of them to be quite so...expensive," Dust explained.

"As I've said before, it is difficult to find good TMs with good moves," The purple Kecleon replied. "However… if you do want both, I suppose I can give you a bit of a discount deal. Consider it a gift since you came close to death before."

"You've heard about that?" Dust asked.

"It's pretty wide spread around here, the Absol who came back from the brink of death," The green Kecleon chuckled.

Dust didn't exactly know how to respond. He knew he always had a knack for making a reputation for himself back at his old guild, but this one was different.

"Uh...Well thank you for…the discount then, never thought that my little encounter with death would hold some form of merit," Dust awkwardly chuckled. "Well if that's the case, I would like to purchase the TM moves Iron Tail and Sludge Bomb."

"Alright, so the discount deal is that you can pay full price for one of the TMs, while the second one will be 25% off," The purple Kecleon explained.

"Alright then," Dust noted as he stared at the two TM discs. Seeing how he would save more if he paid full price Sludge Bomb, he pointed at the purple disc. "I would like to purchase Sludge Bomb for full price."

"Okay, then your total will be…" The purple Kecleon took a moment to find the total sale amount, including the discount he had offered before finally giving an answer. "...13,500 Poke."

Dust double checked his bag, making sure he had enough and was satisfied to know that he had just enough for both TMs. After counting the correct amount, he handed over 13,500 Poke over to the purple Kecleon, noting that he had 175 Poke left to spare.

The purple Kecleon smiled as he took the bag of Poke from Dust, counting it to make sure there were the appropriate amount, before he picked up the two TMs from the box and pushed it to Dust.

"Thank you for your business, Dust." The purple Kecleon smiled.

"Is there anything else we can help you with?" The green Kecleon asked.

Dust shook his head before replying back. "Nope, I think that's everything, at least everything I can get. Thank you for the discount, it really helped."

"No problem, perhaps if you rise in ranks or do something else that becomes popular around here, you'll get more discounts in the future~" The purple Kecleon informed.

"I'll keep that in mind," Dust waved goodbye before leaving the shop.

The young Absol decided to look around a bit more, just in case anything else might have caught his mismatched eyes, but seeing that he only had 175 Poke left, there was hardly anything that he could get. After spending some time, Dust was about to head back to the guild when he suddenly sniffed an appetizing aroma in the air. At that, he noticed his stomach growling, remembering how he hasn't eaten for a while now and decided to follow the scent, both curious and hungry to know the source.

Dust kept following his nose to the hunger induced aroma, until he came across what looked like a newly opened restaurant. It was pretty small, likely just starting out, but the food Dust smelled definitely beats out the guild's cafeteria food by a landslide. Not that the cafeteria food wasn't good, but he had been eating there for a month straight, and he'd like to have something different.

Dust approached the restaurant doors, seeing an Appletun standing at the counter, though a Cherubi was on top of the Appletun's back.

"Hello, welcome to the Sweet Apple Restaurant. Though don't let the name fool you, we serve all kinds of dishes here, not just sweets and fruits. We are open to every kind of Pokemon species," The Cherubi greeted. "Will you be dining in today, Sir Absol?"

"I would love to, but… I don't really have that much Poke on me, surely not enough to afford food that smells this great," Dust explained.

"Our food prices are as cheap as they can be since we are new here. The cheapest food would be about 10 Poke, while our most expensive dishes could range from 100 to 500 Poke. We hope to be able to earn enough Poke to expand our restaurant, and bring in more variety and ingredients for more Pokemon to enjoy," The Cherubi explained. "Some of the food here can raise your IQ, make you feel a little stronger, or you might even be extra lucky and find a prize in your food~ The more expensive your dish is, the more chances you have of finding a good prize."

"Oh wow, I was not expecting that," Dust happily replied. "If that's the case, then I will be dining in."

"Very well, please go ahead and find yourself a table to sit in, we have big chairs for the bigger Pokemon, small chairs for the smaller Pokemon, and the normal chairs for the average sized Pokemon, take your pick to which one you're most comfortable in," Cherubi instructed. "After you sit down, a waiter or waitress will be with you shortly, we hope you enjoy a fine dining experience~"

"Thank you," Dust thanked before choosing a table with a normal sized chair to sit at.

After Dust took his seat, a floating teal and white teapot came over to him. The Absol gave a confused look at the teapot, before a purple, cute ghost-like figure came out from the teapot, and held out a notepad and a pen.

"Greetings, I am Jasmine, and I will be your waitress for the evening," The Polteageist introduced. "The menu is on your table, you may choose whatever is within your price range."

"Thank you," Dust said before grabbing the menu. He took a moment to look through the menu, not really sure what to order, each selection sounding delicious. So he decided to focus on the price, seeing one that was around 125 Poke. "I'll have the…Roasted Psyduck hands, please."

"Very well. Would you like any refreshments to go with it?" Jasmine asked as she wrote down Dust's answer.

Dust looked at the menu once more, seeing that he would still have just enough to get a drink too. "Yes please. Can I get the Oran Berry Punch."

"Alright then." Jasmine smiled. "I will return soon with your order."

With that said, Jasmine withdrew into her teapot before she floated away. Dust waited for a bit, noticing the smell of food being cooked coming from the kitchen. He tried to take a look in the kitchen, but from where he was sitting he had a hard time seeing the insides. But just then Jasmine exited the doors and Dust caught a brief glimpse of what he assumed was a Marowak, at least he thought it was. Though this one looked very different from the normal ones he had seen before. He would've hoped to look more but the doors quickly closed as Jasmine came towards him with his food and drink.

Jasmine was using some kind of telekinesis to float Dust's plate and glass cup of Oran Berry Punch. Jasmine set the plate down in front of Dust, and his cup beside the plate.

"There you are, please enjoy~" Jasmine smiled.

Dust took a moment to let the aroma enter through his nose, his stomach letting out another growl as his mouth was starting to salivate. "Thanks, I'm sure I will enjoy this meal."

Dust then went and took his first bite out of the meat, noticing the rich flavors as he chewed them in his mouth. After taking a couple more bites, he took a sip out of the Oran Berry Punch, tasting the sweet flavors as he swallowed his drink. It wasn't long until Dust had cleared his plate and finished his drink, his stomach fully satisfied from the meal. However, Dust noticed something on his plate. It was a coupon that would give him a free meal in the Sweet Apple Restaurant.

Just then Jasmine returned to take Dust's plate and cup. She then noticed the coupon and gave a friendly smile. "Well aren't you lucky. Make sure to return with that coupon for a free meal~"

Dust smiled and nodded. "I will."

"Be sure to talk to Ms. Cherubi for your payment before you leave," Jasmine instructed.

Dust nodded before getting up from his table. He walked up to the Appletun and Ms. Cherubi to pay for his meal.

"I hope you enjoyed your meal," Ms. Cherubi smiled.

"I did, it was very delicious," Dust returned the smile with his own.

"Please, spread the word to the other Pokemon about your experience. The more Pokemon who eat here, the more chances we'll get to expanding this place." Cherubi grinned. "Your payment in total will be 175 Poke."

"I'll make sure to tell others of this place," Dust replied as he handed Ms. Cherubi the remainder of his Poke. "Thank you for the meal."

"Please come again soon~" Cherubi smiled before she used her leaf to pick up the bag of Poke.

* * *

Dust, feeling full, satisfied, and excited after buying the new TMs and getting an awesome meal, walked to the Medical Bay to see how Berry was.

However, when Dust went into the room Berry was in, he didn't see her. Berry's tank was completely empty, no Goomy in sight. Dust started to panic a bit, looking around the room to see if Berry happened to be there, but no luck. He exited the room, still trying to look for her when he saw Dr. Perfume walking nearby. He rushed towards the Aromatisse, almost crashing into the doctor, but was able to stop himself from doing so.

"Goodness, Dust, where's the fire?" Dr. Perfume asked, seeing how Dust almost crashed into him.

"Fire? There's a fire?" Dust asked, his mind racing.

"No, no, it's a figure of speech, meaning 'what is wrong with you'?" Dr. Perfume clarified.

"Oh, my bad," Dust corrected himself. "But there's nothing wrong with me. I was hoping you knew what had happened to Berry, she's not in her tank."

"Berry? Ah, she woke up an hour or two ago. Since she was mostly recovered, she was discharged from the Medical Bay, so she likely went back to her room," Dr. Perfume explained.

"She woke up?" Dust asked in disbelief. "I thought she wasn't supposed to wake up for another few days, or a week."

"Those were worst case scenarios. It would appear Berry is much stronger than that, so she woke up after half a day of rest," Dr. Perfume replied. "She did ask about you though when she woke up, so we told her you were currently at the Research Lab."

Dust let out a sigh of relief. "That's good to hear. Thank you, Dr. Perfume. Now if you'll excuse, I have a partner to find."

"Much obliged," Dr. Perfume thanked before Dust exited the Medical Bay.

Dust didn't waste any time as he headed towards the Research Lab, it was most likely that Berry would've left after seeing he wasn't there, but there was always the chance that she could still be there. But as he got there, he saw the lights were all off, usually signifying that no one else was using the lab. Still, Dust turned on the lights, just in case but saw no signs of Berry. Turning off the lights, he continued down the hallway, thinking of other possible places Berry would be.

Dr. Perfume did tell him to check their room, but Dust figured Berry must be hungry since she hadn't eaten in over half a day, so Dust decided to head for the cafeteria. As he made his way towards the cafeteria, he passed a few Pokemon along the way, but he didn't stop to greet them, he just wanted to find his partner and see for himself that Berry was alright. Wasn't long until he finally reached the cafeteria, noticing that there weren't that many Pokemon in there. That made it easier for him to search for his partner.

Taking a moment to scan the area, he finally spotted Berry at one of the far ends of the table, with Brody bringing her what looks like a big plate of assorted Berries and Gummies.

"Thanks, Brody, that's really nice, though I would've been fine with just a few berries," Berry remarked.

"Nonsense, you haven't eaten for a long time now," Brody replied as he put the plate of food in front of Berry. "After your beauty sleep, you need to eat to fully recover your strength."

Dust couldn't help but feel relieved when he saw Berry there, awake and eating like nothing was wrong. The Absol made his way over to them. When Berry spotted him, she perked up.

"Hey, Dust!" Berry greeted, waving with one of her antennae.

"Berry!" Dust shouted as he finally reached her. Ignoring her slimes, Dust went and gave Berry a hug. "I'm so glad to see you're doing well!"

Berry was a bit surprised at the hug, Dust never willingly gave her a hug before other than when it was necessary to keep her warm from when he accidentally hit her with an Ice Beam attack, but the Goomy decided she liked it. It made her feel warm and good.

"Heh… did I worry you that much?" Berry sheepishly asked.

After a couple more seconds of hugging Berry, Dust finally let go, his under torso now covered in slime, though he didn't mind at the time. "Oh yes, I was very worried. Part of me thought that you wouldn't be waking up for a long time."

"Heh, well at least I did wake up, and at least you didn't need to go on some perilous journey just to bring me back a cure," Berry chuckled good naturedly.

"Well I wouldn't exactly say perilous journey, but I did do a bit of shopping, though mostly because Otti advised me to," Dust explained. "I actually managed to get us two TMs, something to better help us if we were to ever encounter a fairy type in the future."

"That's good…" Berry then frowned a little. "Wait… TMs? Aren't those really expensive? How much Poke did you spend?"

"Normally yes, but apparently I have quite the reputation and the Kecleon gave me a discount for buying two," Dust answered while smiling. "While normally it would've cost me 15,500 Poke, with the discount I was able to purchase them for 13,500 Poke, leaving me with 175 Poke to spare. Which I later used to eat at this fairly new restaurant, which I highly recommend you try it some time. Their food was phenomenal. And while I did used the last bit of Poke on the food, I say it was worth it."

"Wait… you're saying that we have 0 Poke right now?" Berry spoke up.

"Well if I did the math right, yes. We currently have 0 Poke," Dust continued to smile, not realizing the sudden change of atmosphere in the cafeteria.

The Goomy's left eye twitched a little. "... Is there anything _else _you did that I should know about?"

"Hmm...Well before shopping I did spend some time in the Research Lab, and later I ran into Talon and Tippi, who apparently has been gaining weight," Dust noted.

"... You didn't tell Tippi about her weight gain, did you?" Berry asked, frowning.

"Well Talon did tell me not to mention it so loudly," Dust explained, causing Berry to sigh in relief, but then he continued. "So that's why before leaving, I quietly mentioned it to her, just like Talon told me to."

Berry stared at Dust. "What the absolute Distortion World, Dust!? You do not tell a lady that she is fat! That's just begging to be smacked! And another thing, you spent all of our hard earned money without even discussing with me first!? Why couldn't you have at least put the 175 into a bank or something so we'd have it in case we would need it on a rainy day!?"

Dust was actually taken back, surprised by Berry's sudden rant. "...Okay, I see how that can be quite...upsetting. But if it makes it any better, I did end up getting a free coupon for a free meal at the restaurant."

For a moment, Berry just stared at Dust. Dust gave a nervous grin, seeing the Goomy's dotted eyes just staring at him in annoyance. Then Dust was suddenly soaked, his fur dripping with water.

Berry was groaning. "That's it, you're never shopping again unsupervised."

Dust shook his fur, shaking off as much water as he could. "Huh, funny. That's something my mother would say."

"Yeah, well, I'm beginning to see why she would say that," Berry huffed. "We have no more money left!"

"Not to worry, my dear," Brody spoke up. "If money is the problem, then I can simply lend you some for the time being."

"There, see? Money isn't an issue, Berry," Dust stated.

Berry grumbled as she began to swallow her berries and gummies, feeling like she was going to use Water Gun again on Dust if she didn't stuff her mouth right then and there.

Seeing that Brody was here, Dust decided now would be best to ask him a question that's been bothering him for a while now. "By the way, Brody, I've been meaning to ask you something."

The Lucario looked at Dust. "Yes? What is it?"

"Well, earlier when I was giving Chihiro my report on what had happened during our battle with the Snubbull, I asked her why you decided to let the outlaw go, thinking that you had already told her. But she told me it would be best to ask you yourself. And it's been puzzling me for a while now. You clearly had the advantage, especially after knowing that she can use Attract, surely it would've been easy for you to take her down."

Brody remained silent for a while, staring at Dust, contemplating on how best to answer the young Absol.

Berry stopped stuffing her mouth, having heard Dust's question. She swallowed her food before turning her full attention on Brody and Dust. "I… actually would like to know too, why _did_ you let the outlaw go?"

Brody stared at both of them before finally smiling. "Well I supposed it's only fair that you two know. You two risked your lives, so you two should know as much. The reason why I let the outlaw go, why I didn't take her down is because I wouldn't be able to."

Both Dust and Berry gave Brody a confused look, with Dust asking, "What do you mean?"

"I mean, even though it's true, I could've easily taken her down, I would not be able to harm her," Brody explained. "And not just her specifically, but all females I ever met and will ever meet in the future, I will never harm a single part of their body."

"Why? I mean I know you seem to have a thing for females, but why go so far as to not hurt any of them? It's dangerous to let a female outlaw go like that," Berry said. "If I hadn't been able to block her last Attract on you, Dust would likely be dead, Chloe would be in the hands of that Snubbull, and I… I'm not sure, I'd likely be dead too."

"I know, and I'm sorry that you two had to go through that," Brody apologized while bowing his head. "But no matter what I can't harm any females, not until I find…" Brody paused for a moment, as though deep in thought. He looked around, making sure no one else was nearby. "...Long ago someone had cursed me. I don't exactly know who, or why, but since then I found that no matter what I do, I cannot harm any females. If I had known that Snubbull was female from the very start, I would have either Al or Grant go in my place, instead of me."

"You were cursed by someone?" Dust asked, surprised and fascinated.

Brody nodded. "Yes, but I don't remember who or why."

"Oh jeez, that sounds terrible." Berry frowned.

"It does make things...difficult from time to time, but normally I can always count on my teammates if needed." Brody smiled, trying to reassure them.

"Is there any way you can find them? Any leads?" Dust asked, wanting to learn more about Brody's predicament.

"Well...there is actually one lead. Despite not knowing who they are, one thing I do know is that they are female," Brody explained.

"How is that exactly a lead?" Dust asked, unsure how genders really play a role in all this.

Brody then closed his eyes while holding out his paw as aura was pulsing from his body. "I remember her aura. That's the only thing I can recall about her."

"Well… that… narrows it down to half the population on the planet," Berry sheepishly chuckled. "I suppose you might know her when you see her though."

Brody nodded. "Perhaps. But not many know of my condition, only my teammates, Carrie and our Guildmaster know. I trust you two enough, and you two deserve to know after I risked your lives. But please, do keep this to yourselves, the less who knows, the better."

"I promise I won't tell anybody," Berry promised.

"Likewise, I won't tell anybody either," Dust added.

Brody smiled. "I thank you both then. Now finish up your meal, you still have to fully recover and I have to close the cafeteria soon."

Berry started to eat the rest of what was on her plate, while Dust looked at her.

"Careful, if you keep eating all of that, you'll start gaining weight too," Dust said.

Berry looked at Dust before spraying him with Water Gun, along with some of the berries that were in her mouth.

"There, now you're berry," The Goomy huffed.

Unbeknownst to them, a fourth had been listening in on their conversation the whole time. Sticking to the shadows, the mysterious figure snuck out the cafeteria undetected, making some distance from the others until they were a safe distance away. Once the coast was clear, the figure stepped out of the shadows, revealing an all to familiar Zoroark, as he grinned to himself.

"Interesting," Zoroark said to himself. He continued on his way with the knowledge he had acquired, knowing that it would be very useful to him someday.

* * *

**Greatest Guy****: Traveling Master: **Yup, Dust got extremely lucky back there. And didn't help that Brody loves flirting with every female, so Attract would be very effective on him. But I like to think Attract has different effects on others, depending not only on the gender but also their emotional and mental state as well.

Would be more difficult to use Attract on someone who currently has a mate, or someone whose heart has recently been broken.

**DarkFoxKit:** The inspiration for Attract being 'mind control', at least to someone like Brody, was from an anime episode in Pokemon, where, frankly, an evil Togepi used Attract to mind control Ash and Dawn's Pokemon.

**Star Taurus****: DarkFoxKit:** You do… what now that the Outlaw is arrested? You want to know how and why you mean? You'll see as the story progresses. And yes, we're all glad Chloe is safe and sound.

**FoxyKhai0209****: Traveling Master: **Yup, would've been pretty bad if Dust and Berry had failed to rescue Chloe. And as we mentioned before, all things will eventually be revealed. So you'll find out about the reason behind the outlaw's action in time. If Brody was a female… I don't… I can't even imagine him as a female. Maybe he'd have an existential crisis over suddenly being female. ***Shrugs* **And trust me, I don't want Brody hearing any of this either.

**DarkFoxKit:** I think they meant if Brody was born a female, not suddenly turned female. But that would be an interesting crisis. There are items that can transform Pokemon into objects, Pokemon into other Pokemon, and even turn objects into Pokemon. Why not have an item that switches a Pokemon's gender?~

**Traveling Master: **Shhh! Do you want Dust or Brody to hear that?! Last thing we need is for them to even remotely get an idea like that!

**DarkFoxKit:** Relax, it's not like they can hear us.

**Traveling Master: **If you say so. But if Dust or Brody suddenly end up with a way to switch someone's gender, I'm blaming you.

**Star Gemini****: DarkFoxKit:** Um… cool, I guess? Thanks for the astronomy lesson? I get that they were talking about the Syzygy in the last chapter, but… what does this have to do with anything in the story?

**Traveling Master: **Well one thing is for sure, family reunions must be fun.

**Guest #1****: DarkFoxKit:** ***Looks at this chapter*** Oh yeah, Carrie was completely calm when she found out about her child missing and kidnapped. This is sarcasm by the way.

**Lonelyboi69****: Traveling Master: **Thanks, we made it our goal to try to upload a chapter every Friday. And yeah, with time and practice, this new ability will come in handy for Dust in the future. And glad you enjoyed the story so far, we hope you keep enjoying it!

**The Shining Sage****: Traveling Master: **I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR SOMEONE TO MAKE THAT JOKE! Or something like that. As funny as that would be to see, Miyagi is only a name in the story, nothing more. So unfortunately there won't be any karate kitten.

**Guest #2**: **DarkFoxKit:** Yes, egg moves are interesting. I like the idea of Pokemon inheriting moves from their parents, but it's bothersome when there are some moves that are exclusive only to these Pokemon that happen to hatch with it. So we're making sure Pokemon have the ability to learn these egg moves whether they were hatched with it or not. If these offsprings can hatch with these moves, then the Pokemon should be capable of learning it.

**Traveling Master: **I also like to think that they could learn moves because of their ancestry. It's not just who their parents are, but could go down to grandparents, great one, centuries before the Pokemon was even an egg. So I agree with DF, that it is very possible for Pokemon to be able to have these moves. But telling you right now, Dust won't be learning Megahorn. Just letting you know.


	19. Chapter 19: Princess Day

**DarkFoxKit: *Looks around* **Where is everyone? And why is it so dark? ***Turns on the light***

***As the lights turn on, you see that you are surrounded by all our characters***

**Everyone: **Surprise! Happy Birthday DF!

**DarkFoxKit: *Jumps up so high she hit the ceiling*** Ow! Did you all really have to surprise me? I'd rather not get a heart attack!

**Traveling Master: **Sorry, but it's all mandatory for your B-Day.

**DarkFoxKit:** You all remembered today was my birthday? ***starts to tear up*** That's so sweet of you all!

**Dust: *Whispers to me* **Should we tell her that we honestly had no clue, that we were here to jump you two? That is until you told us it was her birthday and convinced us to throw a surprise instead?

**Traveling Master: *Shoves Dust away while nervously laughing* **No! Anyways, DF! Got any big plans for today?

**DarkFoxKit:** Hmm… updating this chapter? ***Picks up Berry and starts to hug her, not caring about her goo***

**Dust: **Then let's get with the story! You two didn't update last week, and I'm sure everyone is waiting for the next chapter already.

**DarkFoxKit: *Jumps on top of Dust with Berry*** Then onward, my loyal steed~

***Dust just rolls his eyes***

**Berry:** Aren't you two forgetting something?

**DarkFoxKit:** Oh, that's right! It's about the Amaura! We uh… forgot to tell you people that the Amaura isn't going to be their third or fourth member, in fact, they'll have a full team of 6 by the time the Amaura gets introduced. We just thought we should ask as soon as possible since we write a few chapters ahead. ^^' But I think we probably should've waited until we were closer to introducing the Amaura before asking. Our bad! I may have to shut the poll down until we get closer to introducing the Amaura and put it back up later, because I don't want a bunch of 'yes' to the poll due to the misconception people had of the Amaura joining them right now.

**Traveling Master: **Yeah, we should've thought better on that. We hope you guys understand, but for now, enjoy the chapter.

* * *

**Chapter 19: Princess Day**

Berry yawned as she woke up the next morning. She was glad to be back in her and Dust's room. She noticed that Dust's bed was empty however. The Goomy slithered to Dust's bed, seeing a note there written in footprint rune.

'_Good morning, Berry. It looks like you're sleeping in today, most likely from recovering from yesterday's mission. I decided to go ahead and head to the Research Lab. You just take your time and take it easy today. We can go on another mission tomorrow. -Dust'_

Berry sighed a little. "I was hoping to tackle a new mission today… but I guess it might be best if I took it easy today."

Berry slithered to the water pot to get her daily soaking before she left the room to head to the cafeteria for some breakfast. However, as she was slithering down the hallway, she noticed something a little odd. She noticed a few Pokemon were carrying a lot of bags or items in their bags, many of them were male, while the female were moving ahead of them, looking excited and energetic. She even saw Brody following a group of females while carrying many bags. Berry tried calling out to Brody but he was too distracted with catering to all those female Pokemon.

"Wow… Brody's lost it, even more so than usual…" Berry noted before she slithered into the cafeteria, which she couldn't help but noticed looked emptier than usual. "Where is everyone?"

"Berry? What are you doing here?" Berry turned to see a familiar Milcery making her way towards her.

"Uh… hey, Cupcake," Berry greeted. "I came here for some breakfast like usual. But why are there barely any Pokemon here?"

"They are all busy with the holiday," Cupcake explained. "It's also why Brody isn't here, he's been looking forward to this day for a while now."

"What? Today's a holiday?" Berry blinked, surprised. "I didn't even know there was a holiday today."

"You don't know?" Milcery asked. "Today is Princess Day. Although in ancient times when humans were still around, the holiday had a different name, but it's different in every story, so everyone just calls it Princess Day."

Berry stared at the Milcery blankly.

Cupcake frowned when she noticed Berry's blank story. "Do you… not know about Princess Day, Berry?"

"No… I mean… is that the day everyone is supposed to celebrate a royal princess Pokemon or something?" Berry asked.

"No one ever told you about Princess Day before?!" Cupcake asked. When Berry shook her head, Cupcake was shocked and gave a little horrified expression. "I would've thought that at least half the male members here would be treating you like a royal princess, especially after how you went to a dangerous dungeon all on your own, just to save your partner!"

"Uh… but… I'm not a princess…?" Berry said, now sounding really confused. "I mean I know I went through a lot to save Dust at the time, but I doubt that would just make me a princess."

"You really don't know anything about Princess Day? Did your parents never tell you?" Cupcake questioned.

"My parents? Well, no. Dad didn't like me all that much, and Mom never said anything about it. We lived in a rural swamp, so I guess Princess Day was just something we never heard of," Berry answered.

"Oh, this won't do. This will not do at all!" Cupcake shook her head as she mostly spoke to herself. She then turned her attention back to Berry. "You need to find your partner and have him treat you to this day. Especially after saving his life, you deserve it!"

"Can you please tell me what Princess Day even is?" Berry questioned.

"Right, sorry," The Milcery apologized, realizing that Berry didn't even know what Princess Day was. "Well, we're not really sure what the holiday was originally supposed to be back in the human era, but from what we could gather in the history books, Princess Day celebrated all females, whether they're young girls or middle aged women. There are toys and clothes dedicated to females everywhere. As a specialty for the holiday, stores and restaurants would give big discounts to females, or some may even give some stuff away for free to the females. The males basically have to treat the girls like a princess, hence the name. The males do all the item and bag carrying, they pay for the girls, in guilds like this one, males are obligated to try to please their female partners if they have any. I do feel kind of bad if there was one male in a team of females though."

"Huh… sounds like an interesting holiday. But don't the males have their own holiday as well? Is there a Prince Day or something?" Berry asked.

Cupcake chuckled a bit. "Well not exactly Prince Day, but it is called Emperor Day, somewhat similar to today's holiday. Of course, it wouldn't be very gentlemon if the guys made the girls carry all their stuff and pay for their meals and such. While the holiday is dedicated to them, it doesn't put too much strain on the females."

Berry wondered if the humans seem to have favored girls over boys with how the holidays sounded. She didn't like the idea of straining the males herself. "So is the cafeteria closed for the holiday? I mean Dust spent all our money yesterday so I can't afford a restaurant even if they gave me a discount."

Cupcake was shocked to hear that. "Did he really spend all your money? Was it at least for a gift today?"

"Nope, Dust didn't even mention the holiday," Berry grumbled.

Cupcake grumbled at that. "Oh really? Well he had better make it up to you or he's getting a Draining Kiss from me to the face."

Berry couldn't help but chuckle at that. "Can I at least get some breakfast?"

"While normally the cafeteria is closed on holidays, for you, I'll make an exception," Cupcake smiled at Berry before making her way towards the kitchen.

* * *

Dust was doing research on some berries today. He managed to collect a few berries while in the Phoenix Desert, and it fascinated him that these berries could survive in such a harsh environment, especially in a place where berries didn't grow.

"Fascinating," Dust mumbled to himself. "It always amazes me how nature always finds a way to adapt and overcome their challenges."

"Honestly, Dust, you're going to spend today of all days cooped up in the Research Lab?" Otti, who was currently in her Mew form, floated over Dust's head and frowned.

Dust jumped up a bit, not seeing Otti come by. "Otti, you almost gave me a heart attack. And what's so special about today?"

"Really, Dust, you don't know what today is?" Otti asked, unsure if Dust was joking or not.

"...Is there a special at the cafeteria today I'm unaware of?" Dust answered back with his own question.

"Oh my gosh! How does Berry put up with you? Are you really that clueless?" Otti groaned. "Do you know what today's date is?"

"Today's date? Sorry, haven't really been keeping track of our most recent days, had quite the interesting week, if I do say so myself," Dust noted. "Is it someone's birthday? Though unless it was Berry or Brody's I wouldn't really participate...Well can't exclude you, Carrie, or our Guildmaster...In fact, how old is she? I should probably ask her that next time-"

Otti put a paw on Dust's mouth, quieting him. "No, it's nobody's birthday… well, not anyone you know anyways. It's Princess Day today. Surely you've at least heard of Princess Day, haven't you?"

"It's Princess Day!?" Dust groaned. "Oh I remember that, my mother explained it to me before and every year I spent the entire day with her, treating her as a princess, according to the holiday and traditions. I honestly forgot, as I mentioned before, I haven't really been keeping track of the dates lately."

"Right… well, I don't know how the Olympus Guild does it, but in Unity Guild, it's customary for male members to treat their female teammates like a princess," Otti stated. "And you _do_ have a female teammate, don't you?"

Dust let out a long sigh before nodding. "I do, and you're right. The holiday does dictate that I must treat my partner as such. Well I have to put my research on hold for now, I'll be back later… Is there someone who will be treating you today as a princess?"

Otti just sighed. "Well, while I may identify myself as female, Ditto are actually genderless. But that doesn't mean I can't have a little fun, it's not like anyone knows I'm a Ditto if I'm in one form~ But that's another reason why I want you out of the lab, I can't leave you here unsupervised, so I can't enjoy this holiday until you leave."

"Very well," Dust agreed. "I won't keep you any longer than need be. I'll be looking for Berry, enjoy your Princess Day."

"Enjoy yourself too, hope you saved up some Poke~" Otti winked. "Girls tend to love shopping aggressively this time of year."

Dust gave an awkward chuckle. "Right, that is very true… Never really did have an issue with money before when it was just me and my mother. I can see how money does play a huge factor during Princess Day."

Otti gave Dust a stare. "You spent all your money yesterday, didn't you?"

Dust remained silent for a few seconds before answering. "...Yes...But I did get two TMs that me and Berry could use to help defend against fairy types, just like you said."

"Have you even used those TMs yet?" Otti asked.

"Uhhhh… nooooo…?" Dust blushed, realizing he had forgotten about the TMs yesterday.

"Well, don't worry about those TMs right now. What you need is to get money and fast. Do you have any items you could sell for some Poke?" Otti asked. "You managed to find any gold ribbons you could sell?"

"Hmm...One sec," Dust went and checked his personal bag, taking out every item in there. None of them were really worth selling, such as his notepad, he did have a few berries from the desert that might get him a few Poke. Then he finally pulled out the special rock he found during his battle with the Shiny Trapinch.

"What's that?" Otti asked, taking notice of the rock.

"This… Oh, well when me and Berry were in the Phoenix Desert Dungeon, we ended up in an underground cavern. There we came across a group of Trapinch, and ended up having to fight one of them. During the battle I tripped over this interesting object and decided to take it with me. I've never seen a rock with such strange designs. Maybe it's some sort of evolutionary stone… And as much as I would love to study it, I think it would be best to exchange it for Poke. For all I know, it could be just a simple rock."

Otti looked at the stone for a moment. "Nah, don't sell it. It's a rare rock, and I think Berry would love it as a gift~ Besides, if you sold it, you wouldn't get much out of it."

"Oh, well that's both reassuring and a bit disappointing. But I don't have much else to sell, well except some berries," Dust explained.

"Don't you have anything in Carrie's storage you could sell?" Otti asked. "If not, you could always get a quick job in town. Carrie or the Kecleon brothers could give you a fast job to get quick payment, like delivering certain items to certain Pokemon. I think this time of year they're willing to hire anyone, desperate males who are trying to get money for their female teammates or mates, or males who were stupid enough to blow all their money instead of saving up for this holiday."

"Right," Dust gave another awkward chuckle. "Well thank you for the advice. Hopefully I can earn enough Poke to properly treat Berry for Princess Day."

Otti smiled. "Have a good day, Dust~ Make sure you keep that rock in a safe place~"

Dust gave her a firm nod before grabbing all his stuff and exited the Research Lab.

* * *

The young Absol was looking around in White Leaf Town, he could see it was crowded with Pokemon. There were a lot of females rushing to the next store, while the males were exhaustingly trailing after them with a lot of bags on them. Those who were unfortunate enough to not have hands, had bags dumped on their backs or heads.

"This is definitely different from how Olympus Guild did Princess Day," Dust noted, having to constantly move out of the way of oncoming males and females. "Hopefully I can find a simple job that pays well."

Dust decided to go to Carrie's warehouse to see if he did have any items worth selling, but when he got there he saw the warehouse was unfortunately closed due to Carrie wanting to take a vacation at the hot springs for Princess Day, and to treat Chloe to something nice. So now, Dust was left with the Kecleon brothers.

"Hello there, Dust, did you come to buy or did you come looking for a quick job?" The purple Kecleon asked with a smile.

Dust noticed that only the purple Kecleon was at the shop, he didn't see the green Kecleon anywhere.

"I was hoping to do a quick job for you… Where is your brother? I would expect to at least see both of you, especially on a holiday like this one." Dust asked after seeing no signs of the green Kecleon.

"He's currently selling items in a Mystery Dungeon. He does that sometimes, it helps any Crusaders out on a mission when they're running low on items, and it's also good advertisement," The purple Kecleon answered. "So I'm here to handle the shop, and to help out anyone who's looking to make a quick cash for today's holiday."

"Yeah, especially after purchasing those two TMs yesterday, I'm gonna need to earn some extra Poke. I'll do any job that you need done," Dust replied.

"Ah, well in that case, you came at the perfect time!" Kecleon stated before he picked up a few boxes. "I've been needing someone to make some deliveries for me. On a holiday like this, the more rich Pokemon tend to order their items ahead of time and be delivered on this day. And I've got a ton of orders to deliver. With my brother gone at the moment, I could use someone like you to make these deliveries while I tend to the shop. If you can deliver these quickly without damaging the items, I'll pay you more for your services. So it's a win-win~"

Dust then gave the purple Kecleon a salute. "Then Dust the Absol is at your service! You can count on me!"

"Perfect, let me help you get set up so that you can deliver these items." The Kecleon smiled as he led Dust to the back of the shop.

There Dust was surprised to see a type of carriage. Kecleon had begun putting all the boxes in the cart.

"Shouldn't be too difficult, it helps that we have our own cart for making deliveries. Normally me and my brother hire a Pokemon to drag the cart, but this time you'll be dragging it," Kecleon explained as he helped put the straps on Dust.

"I have to admit, I was not expecting this when you said I would be delivering all those items," Dust admitted.

"Well how else were you planning on taking all those boxes? Kecleon chuckled a bit.

"True, this seems to be a very effective method," Dust noted.

"Exactly, now here's a list of all the addresses you need to go to," Kecleon explained as he handed Dust a clipboard. "It shouldn't be too hard to find their homes, the rich Pokemon tend to live in bigger buildings, so they're pretty easy to spot. Oh, and before I forget."

The purple Kecleon suddenly held out a strange piece of hat, the design looked pretty similar to that of the top of a Kecleon's head.

"Um...and what exactly is that for?" Dust asked.

"For two things. One is to show others that you are doing a job for the Kecleon brothers, that way they won't hinder your job," Kecleon explained as he put the hat on top of Dust's head. "The second is for advertising. Others will see that you are doing a job for us and will make them think of us in the future when it comes to deliveries."

Dust noted how the hat was a bit snug, but nonetheless understood that Kecleon's reasons made sense. "Again, another effective method. I'll have all those items delivered faster than a Flareon increasing its body temperature up to 1,700 degrees Fahrenheit."

The purple Kecleon stared at Dust for a second, a bit confused by what he said. "Right...Anyways, just remember to deliver them without damaging them. If the items are damaged, the customer is going to complain, and I don't tolerate damaged goods."

"Understood," Dust gave another salute.

"Now off you go!" Purple smiled before Dust began running, pulling the cart behind him.

It was new for Dust, having to pull a carriage of some kind while moving. But it was something he was determined to complete.

* * *

Meanwhile, Berry was looking for Dust. Otti came to her earlier, telling her that the Research Lab was closed for the holiday today, so now Berry was trying to find out where Dust went.

The Goomy came out of the guild, wondering if Dust went to White Leaf Town, not that she could figure out why he would since he had no money, but she figured it couldn't hurt to see if he was there. However, as she was slithering, she was surprised to see a Metapod relaxing on a small hill near some flowers. The Metapod, though Berry was sure she never met with a Metapod in White Leaf Town before, looked familiar to her somehow. Berry squinted her eyes, trying to figure out where she had seen this Metapod before.

Then Berry saw a familiar Starly approaching the Metapod from the sky, holding something in his talons, and landed in front of the Metapod.

Berry realized the Starly was Talon. _But what's Talon doing with a Metapod? Where's Tippi?_

Talon smiled as he had a Silk Scarf on his talons, and was using it to wrap around the Metapod. "There, that should keep you nice and cozy while you enjoy the breeze. If you want, I could go find some flowers for you to enjoy."

Now curious, Berry began to slither toward Talon and the Metapod. "Talon?"

Talon and the Metapod turned their attention to Berry.

"Oh, Berry! Hey, nice to see you." Talon smiled, looking to be in a pretty good mood.

"Hey, Talon… um… what's with the Metapod?" Berry asked. "Is she a new partner?"

"What? No, don't you recognize her?" Talon asked.

"It's me, Tippi," The Metapod spoke up, sounding quiet yet familiar.

Berry looked at the Metapod, surprised. "Tippi!?" _Oh my gosh! How could I have forgotten that Caterpie evolves into Metapod? I guess I was just so used to Tippi being a Caterpie that I didn't think she would've evolved!_ "I didn't realize you evolved."

"Yup, I evolved. It's amazing. But also limiting right now. I cannot eat or move much while I'm like this," Tippi sighed. "I hope I can evolve into a Butterfree soon. I wouldn't be much help to Talon on missions while I'm like this."

"You're always helpful no matter what form you're in, Tippi," Talon spoke up. "Sure you can't do much as you are now, but you can use Harden now, meaning you'd be able to defend me more until you evolve."

"You're too kind, Talon. But you can barely carry me as I am now," Tippi reminded.

Berry cleared her throat. "So uh… congratulations on evolving, Tippi. By the way, have either of you two seen Dust? I'm looking for him."

"Dust? I haven't seen him since…" Talon paused, remembering the last time they saw Dust and how much trouble the Absol had caused him. "Haven't seen him since yesterday. It was just before me and Tippi went to do our mission."

Tippi grumbled. "The troublesome Absol had the audacity to call me fat."

Berry gulped, remembering that Dust did indeed call Tippi fat. "Uh… I'm sure he didn't mean it in that way, he can just be… really clueless when it comes to social cues."

There was an awkard silence, despite Berry's explanation. Just then a Snivy carrying bags with its vines walked up to the group.

"You guys, you would not believe the lines in town, almost took me forever to get our food… Uh...did I miss something? Why's everyone looking like they just got their rank demoted?" The Snivy gave a brief chuckle, but everyone continued to stare at her. "Yikes, did your ranks really get demoted?"

"Nobody's gotten their ranks demonted… I mean we're all at the bottom anyways, being Normal Ranks," Talon reminded. "We were just having a bit of an awkward conversation."

"But we are glad to see you, Ivy," Tippi stated.

Berry looked at the Snivy, still a little nervous around Grass types. "Uh… who are you…?"

"Ivy. Ivy the Snivy," Ivy said with a friendly smile, but then noticed Berry's nervous expression. "What has your berry twisted in a knot?"

Berry blinked, she wasn't sure if the Snivy knew her name or if she just made a random pun with a 'berry'. "Uh… sorry, I'm not usually very comfortable around Grass types. I'm trying to get over that though. Um… did you know my name?"

"Wait? Your name is Berry?" Ivy shockingly asked. "I was only kidding."

"Y-yeah, my name is Berry," Berry confirmed.

"Wow… first time that's ever happened, guessing your name without even trying," Ivy laughed.

"Berry… this is Ivy, our newest team member," Talon introduced. "She joined Team Silkwing after we helped her in our last mission, and Tippi evolved. I guess you can say it was a very productive mission for us."

"Oh don't even get me _started_ on that chaos," Ivy chuckled. "You thought your little fear of Grass types was bad, you should've seen how Talon reacted to me. He kept looking at me like I was going to eat him at any moment."

Berry blinked, surprised. "Really…?"

"I mean sure, the wild version of our kind actually do hunt and eat their prey, but civilized ones don't," Ivy explained. "And let's say that I did want to eat him, how was I supposed to exactly do that? I'm a Snivy for crying out loud, if I was a Serperior, it would be a different story, but there would be no way for me to even attempt it."

Talon shivered a little, his feathers ruffling a bit. "... I had a really… really bad experience with a Serperior early in my life."

"It's okay, Talon, that Serperior isn't here, Ivy isn't that Serperior," Tippi reassured her partner.

Berry wondered what happened to Talon for him to be afraid of something he has an advantage over.

"I guess you could say I also joined in hopes of helping Talon with his… issues of my species, I owe him that much for saving my life," Ivy remarked. "Now all this talk of eating has gotten me starving, hope you're hungry Berry cause I did get a lot of food."

Berry blinked, surprised as Ivy set down all her bags, showing a lot of different types of food. There were fruits and berries, of course, there were also Rainbow Gummis, which were pretty rare and expensive since Rainbow Gummies were good for any and all types of Pokemon. There were also dried meat as well, which Berry didn't want to look at since she never liked the idea of eating parts of Pokemon, even if they were wild and were currently unrecognizable.

Berry's species… well… the Wooper species were vegetarians, they mostly lived off of water grass and weeds, berries, and fruits. She did hear that a few Wooper did eat small fish Pokemon, but nobody in her family ever did that she was aware of. That was when Berry realized something that worried her.

_Oh Mew, I hope that Goomys aren't carnivorous!_ Berry gulped. _I mean I've lived off of non-meat food for 16 years, so… maybe I'm fine on that part._

"Really glad we got a female to do the shopping today, those discounts were very healthy for our bank account," Talon chuckled.

Berry grimaced at the mention of money, recalling how Dust used up all their savings. _I really need to find a mission that pays well within our rank…_

"Oh, Ivy, have you seen an Absol in town at all? I was going to go look for him," Berry asked the Snivy.

"Funny how you mentioned that, I did see an Absol earlier," Ivy recalled. "Though he looked pretty busy, pulling a cart while wearing some weird hat. Would that be the same Absol you are looking for?"

Berry gave a surprised and confused look. _Dust is… pulling a cart while wearing a weird hat? The Distortion World is he doing?_ "I… _think_ that's Dust. I don't know any other Absol around here. Though he's usually not one to do physical labor..."

Ivy just shrugged as she popped a Rainbow Gummy in her mouth. "Don't know what else to tell ya, that was the only Absol I saw. Plus, it is Princess Day, I've seen males all around doing crazy stuff, so maybe this Dust guy is doing something too."

"I should go and see what he's doing," Berry sighed. "I find it dangerous to leave him alone for long."

"You sure you don't want to eat with us?" Tippi asked. "Well… I can't really eat myself yet, I have to wait until I evolve before I can eat."

"You can't eat?" Berry blinked.

"Most cocoon Pokemon can't. They don't have mouths," Ivy pointed out. "Though their cocoon evolution stage doesn't last too long, that's why they eat a lot before evolution so their body can conserve the nutrients and energy during their cocoon stage. The hard shell you see of Tippi here isn't her real body, it's made from her own String Shot. Her real body is undergoing changes inside the shell, while the shell is to keep her real body protected."

Berry was intrigued by this, she never knew how different evolution could work with different Pokemon. _If Dust didn't already know about this and was here right now, I'm sure he would be here asking questions all day about it._

"If you don't mind, I'll take a few gummis to go, maybe share them with Dust or something," Berry said. _Or maybe sell a few, Rainbow Gummis are usually worth a small fortune._

Ivy began putting some of the Rainbow Gummis in the bag, making sure to leave plenty enough for her and Talon. Once done she used her vines to hand over the bag over to Berry.

"Good luck on finding Dust," Ivy smiled. "He shouldn't be too hard to find, if anything just look for that funny looking hat, it kinda looks like the top of a Kecleon's head."

Berry put the bag of Rainbow Gummis on her head, keeping her antennae on it. "Thanks, I'll be sure to keep a look out for him and his Kecleon hat. You three enjoy yourselves."

With that, Berry slithered away, slowly making her way into White Leaf Town. She didn't want to accidentally drop the bag.

When Berry got to town, she saw it was pretty busy. A lot of Pokemon were out and about, many of them rushing from one store to the next. There were a lot of Pokemon carrying bags while trailing behind another.

Berry wanted to try to sense for Dust, but her antennae were wrapped around the bag on her head, and there were too many Pokemon for her to be able to distinguish Dust anyways. Berry remember Ivy said Dust had a Kecleon on his hat, so she decided to try to go to Kecleon's Shop first.

Berry squirmed as she tried to get through the crowd of hurrying, excited, bustling crowd of Pokemon. She was thankful she was slippery, but she didn't like how small she was since it was easy for the bigger Pokemon to accidentally trample her. Then she ended up bumping into someone big and scaley, which knocked her down a little, making her drop her bag of Rainbow Gummis.

"Hey! What's the big ideal?" A tall, bipedal dragon Pokemon turned around as they shouted, though their voice sounded femenine, indicating they were likely female, but was surprised to see no one there. That is until she looked down and saw Berry. "Oh, it's you."

Berry blinked at the dragon Pokemon. There was something familiar about her, but Berry wasn't quite sure where she had seen this Pokemon before, but then she remembered she had dropped her Rainbow Gummies. "A-ah, sorry about that… I was getting pushed all over the place."

Berry quickly started picking up her Rainbow Gummies with her antennae and putting them back in the bag. She was half way through when she noticed that she couldn't find any more. She knew there should be more but they seemed to have just vanished.

"Looking for these?" Berry looked up at the dragon to see her holding the remainder of the Rainbow Gummies.

"Y-yeah… could you give them back, please?" The Goomy asked timidly, not sure if this Pokemon was friendly or not.

"This again?" The dragon shook her head as she crossed her arms. "Seems like you barely recognize me and you're already acting like a coward. Do you act like this every time you run into someone stronger than you?"

Berry frowned, she recognized that attitude, and the more she looked at the dragon Pokemon, the more familiar she looked. The scales, the colors, the attitude, if the bipedal dragon was on all fours, then… Berry realized who this Pokemon was.

"Blizza? Is that you?" Berry questioned, squinting her dotted eyes at the much bigger Blizza before her.

"Took you long enough. Geez, I knew you were slow, but not this slow," Blizza laughed at her own joke.

"I... am not that educated in Dragon types or their evolutions," Berry admitted.

"Figures, even then, you should have at least heard of Hakamo-o. Our kind are known for our strengths, almost everyone has at least heard of us," Blizza bragged. "I bet even that Absol has heard of our kind."

Berry frowned, her family had lived out in the boonies, so while they did revere a lot of the more powerful, fully evolved Dragon types, they never taught her their evolution line, what they were like in their younger, base forms before they became those bigger, stronger forms. While it wasn't the first time someone called her slow, both physically and mentally, she couldn't help but feel annoyed at Blizza's tauntings.

"You know, it was kinda rude of you to not recognize me, maybe I should keep these Gummies as an apology," Blizza suddenly said. "Besides, I would get more use out of them than you considering you haven't even evolved yet. Did you slack off because you thought you were strong enough already?"

Berry shook her head, she never really took the time to train, she still hadn't even sparred with Grant or Al yet, even though she just remembered she promised to spar with them for babysitting Phantom and Spooks while they went to go rescue Chloe. _I mean it wasn't like I could since I was in the Medical Bay…_

Then the Goomy saw the Hakamo-o munching on one of the Rainbow Gummies. "H-hey! Those are mine! You go get your own Rainbow Gummies!"

Blizza was about to pop another gummy in her mouth but stopped after Berry shouted at her. Grinning at Berry, Blizza, lowered her gaze and met Berry's own. "Oh, then tell me, what are you going to do if I don't?"

Berry felt terrified, yet determined. She wasn't sure when or how, but when she realized this was Blizza, Berry didn't feel as timid despite Blizza's stronger and bigger form. "Just give the gummies back. You can go buy more yourself since they're on discount for all females today."

Blizza kept staring at Berry, expecting her to turn away from her or to start shaking, but Berry held her ground, not turning away from the Hakamo-o.

"Buying more Rainbow Gummies shouldn't be a problem for a Silver Rank like you, right? Or are you so broke that you have to resort to stealing mine?" Berry added, still glaring challengingly at Blizza.

Blizza was a bit shocked, but ended up smirking at Berry. "Well, looks like you actually do have some backbone. Keep that up and I might even consider treating you as my rival again. Here, just be glad I already ate before, otherwise I wouldn't be in such a giving mood."

Blizza then tossed the remainder of the Rainbow Berries to Berry, not really caring that most of them landed on the ground around her. Berry watched as Blizza walked off to another store, and she didn't move until the Hakamo-o was out of sight. As soon as Blizza was out of sight, Berry's body melted into a puddle of goop, her nerves were shot after that encounter.

_Oh my Mew, what the Distortion World just happened? I can't believe I just challenged Blizza like that, especially since she evolved! Am I crazy? Do I have a death wish!?_ Berry thought to herself, completely petrified by what just happened.

* * *

Dust was panting. He had to admit, doing this job was good for his stamina training, and his leg muscles, but he was getting tired. He had delivered all the item packages in the cart, and he was making his way back to the Kecleon shop. He took notice of the position of the sun, surmising that it was already past the afternoon.

"Didn't think it would take this long to deliver all those packages," Dust panted as he finally reached the Kecleon shop. He took a moment to catch his breath before calling out to Kecleon. "Kecleon, I've returned."

"Ah, so you have my friend." Kecleon smiled. "It would seem all the clients were pleased at the fast delivery service, and none of the items were damaged. For such a great service, I will pay you 10,000 Poke for your hard work, and also so you have some spending money for your partner~"

Dust graciously took the bag of Poke as Kecleon handed it to him. "And thank you for offering me the job in the first place. Berry wasn't exactly as ecstatic as I was after purchasing those TMs. I'm hoping to use today as a chance to make it up to her."

"I figured as much when you spent a lot of your Poke here yesterday. I suppose I should've warned you about the Princess Day, but I figured you knew about it already, and I wasn't about to turn away a paying customer," Kecleon chuckled. "Now you better go, the later you wait, the more daylight you burn. And I need to get back to work, more Pokemon will be coming by soon."

"Will do," Dust thanked the Kecleon once more before leaving.

_Okay, now that I have enough Poke, I just need to find a suitable gift for Berry to surprise her with… But what to get her?_ Dust thought to himself, trying to figure out the best gift to get.

As Dust was walking and thinking, his front right foot stepped on something wet and gooey. He took a step back to take a better look at the wet substance, seeing that it was an all too familiar color. He's been studying Berry's slime for some time now that it took only one second for Dust to recognize it as Berry's.

"Oh, looks like Berry decided to come to town," Dust said to himself as he scooped a bit of slime with his claws to further examine it and saw how it was still moist to touch. "And from the looks of it, seems like she was only here recently."

Dust decided to follow the slime to see if it would lead him to his partner. He didn't have to go far before he saw a very flat Berry, slowly picking up some kind of rainbow-ish stuff, and putting them in a bag. He got closer to Berry until he was just behind her. He didn't say anything yet, still wondering what Berry was exactly doing, instead he opted to observe, not wanting to interrupt Berry.

Berry finished putting all the colorful stuff into her bag, and she started to slither off somewhere.

_Strange, I wonder where she's off to? Better follow her and see what she's up to. _Dust thought to himself as he followed after Berry.

Berry was slithering over to the Kecleon shop, where Dust was just at. Dust wondered what Berry could possibly want at the Kecleon shop since they were broke the last time she checked. Dust saw Berry waiting in line with a lot of other Pokemon at Kecleon's shop, before it was finally her turn. She asked Kecleon something, and he just shrugged. Berry frowned before she slithered away.

After Berry had left, Dust went to the store, wanting to ask Kecleon about Berry. "Excuse me, Kecleon? By chance can you tell me what you and Berry were talking about just now?"

"Oh Dust, I'm actually surprised to see you so soon. Funny, your partner was asking me if I had seen you, looks like you just missed her too," Kecleon explained.

"Actually I've been following her for a while now. I was curious what she was doing, had no idea that she was actually looking for me. Isn't that ironic?" Dust chuckled at the thought.

"I guess you can say that," Kecleon shared the laugh. "Better catch up to her, she looked like she really wanted to find you."

Dust nodded before he began to walk after Berry, but before he thought about grabbing her attention, a mischievous side of him wanted to see how far she would go before she realized he was following her.

So the Absol kept quietly following Berry, who was growing more and more frustrated with each place she checked, and still not seeing Dust anywhere. Finally, Berry started leaving White Leaf Town to see if Dust was back at the guild, however, when she and Dust came out of the busy White Leaf Town, Berry's antennae shot straight up when she felt someone was behind her, a very familiar someone. Turning around, the Goomy saw Dust there.

Dust gave his usually friendly smile, not knowing the mood Berry was in at the moment. "Surprise!"

"... Dust… did you just get here?" Berry questioned.

"Not exactly, I've actually been following you for quite some time now. A bit before you went to the Kecleon's shop," Dust explained. "At first I was curious as to what you were doing, but after Kecleon told me you were looking for me, I wanted to see how long it would take you to notice I was behind you the whole time. Which, by the way, took you about 30 minutes or so. So congrats on finally finding me."

"... So…" Berry started to slither closer to Dust. "Let me get this straight… you knew I was looking for you for about half an hour or so, yet you didn't bother to call out to me or get my attention, instead, you decided to just follow me like a creeper, just because you wanted to know how long it would take for me to find you?"

"Creepy? Well I supposed some of my actions would come across as creepy," Dust noted. "But besides that, yes, I wanted to see how long it would take you to find me."

By now, Berry was close to Dust, and Dust suddenly felt a sense of danger. Berry carefully put the bag she had been carrying on her head down on the ground before she gave Dust a sudden smile. "You know what, Dust?"

Dust realized too late that he had made a huge mistake, but there was no taking it back now. So he gulped, both curious and dreading what Berry had in mind. "...Yes, Berry?"

"Could you look up at the sky for me?" Berry suddenly requested in an all too cheery voice.

Dust was caught off by the strange question but obliged. He looked up, wondering what he's supposed to be looking at. "Um Berry, is there something in the sky I should be looking for?"

Suddenly, he saw the Goomy right above him, and he only had time to yelp before her entire body smashed into his face. The sheer force of her body caused Dust to fall backwards on the ground, hitting it hard. His bag fell off, emptying some of the contents within.

Berry saw the Poke Dust had in his bag, and she jumped off of Dust's face before looking at the Poke. "Where did you get all this Poke, Dust? Did you sell a few golden ribbons? Or… did you accidentally take someone's Poke? Do I need to drown you?"

Dust took a moment to recover, his body still in shock from having a blob of slime suddenly Body Slammed into his face. "If… by accident, you mean if I stole? Then no, I would never steal, maybe borrow, but I haven't done that since my old guild. And I didn't have any golden ribbons to sell either."

"Then how did you get all this Poke?" Berry repeated her question.

"I worked for it. Kecleon gave me a job of delivering multiple packages across town," Dust explained. "Turns out they receive many orders for a lot of their items before the upcoming holidays."

Berry grumbled as she glared at Dust. "Fine, you got a job and made some money, that doesn't excuse you just making me wander like that for half an hour when I was LOOKING FOR YOU! You're such a jerk sometimes, you big fuzzy head!"

Dust flinched at Berry's shout. While he was always used to his own mother shouting at him before, this was different. He was never bothered by all the snickering from the Pokemon in his old guild, the names they called him, or how they truly felt about him. He always brushed those aside, unfazed by their words and judging eyes. But to see Berry this upset over something he did made his heart feel pretty crummy inside.

Dust tried to hide his initial shock by giving a weak chuckle "Right… Very sorry about that. Truly am. Wanted to have a little fun, but it was indeed a jerk move. Was not my intention to make you this upset, so I'm sorry… I guess now that you found me, you'll want to be on your way now? I can put our Poke away, I recall Carrie's store being closed, so we can store it later."

Berry sighed as her anger deflated. "While I didn't appreciate you making me look for you like that, I am probably overreacting a little bit. I ran into Blizza earlier, she's now evolved into a Hakamo-o, and teased me a bit. I went off on her, and then she just walked away."

"Oh, then I'm really sorry for making you search for me! Had I known about your recent encounter I wouldn't even have thought of pulling something like that," Dust apologized once more. "I really should've been there for you instead of trying to play a stupid game with you."

"Well, what's done is done, I suppose…" Berry sighed before looking at the Poke that Dust dropped on the floor. "Well… since you have some money, perhaps we should put it away in the bank so we can spend them on important things later."

"That is the plan, but that'll have to wait. As I mentioned before, Carrie's store is currently closed," Dust explained. Then he suddenly remembered why he did the job in the first place. "In fact, we still have the rest of today to celebrate Princess Day. I didn't do this job for nothing, I still owe it to you to make sure you get to enjoy this day. I've already messed up with spending all our money yesterday, and also had a rough start making you waste your time for 30 minutes, but by Arceus I will make sure you have the best Princess Day ever!"

Berry tilted her head a little. "An Arceus believer, huh? Well, I don't need to have the 'best Princess Day ever', but I do have something in mind that you could use to make it up to me."

"Well I wouldn't exactly say Arceus believer, but that's beside the point. As according to holiday traditions," Dust then bowed before Berry as though she were royalty. "Thy wish is my command, Princess."

"Oh stop, that's just awkward," Berry grumbled. "I don't care what day it is, do not treat me like a princess."

Dust got up, quite puzzled. "Well that is quite the predicament. According to Princess day, males are supposed to treat females as such, but if you command that I don't treat you, of course I must oblige and accept your command. But then again it goes against the fact I have to treat you as a princess, and traditions demands it, but you also command I go against it, but if I go against it then I can't-"

"Dust!" Berry spoke up, interrupting him. "I'm just not very comfortable at being treated like… royalty. But… you can be my 'royal steed' if it makes you feel any better."

Dust rubbed his temples, glad to be out of that loop. "Thank you, sorry about that. But that works perfectly fine. So what did you have in mind?"

"You told me about that new restaurant yesterday, right? How about we order something from there to go? There's a spot I think we could eat at for a nice picnic view," Berry replied.

"Very well, and on the way would you like to shop at any of the stores? Purchase any items that catch your eyes?" Dust asked as he kneeled on the ground for Berry to get on.

Berry slithered onto Dust's back. "Not unless they have a portable item that keeps me moist on land."

"Hmm...While that would be interesting to see, I don't think any of the stores have something like that. In fact I don't think I've heard of anything like that. Would've been quite useful during our trek through the desert." Dust noted.

"For now, let's not worry about shopping. I might want to stop by the Kecleon shop to see if there's anything useful on sale for females, but otherwise I rather not waste all the money you worked to get on trinkets and plushies that I can't even hold on to," Berry stated. "I'm hungry, let's go get some restaurant food and have a nice, relaxing picnic. I'm also a bit tired from slithering around the town."

"As you wish," Dust nodded as he took them back to town.

Dust made his way through town, avoiding the heavy crowd of Pokemon who were still shopping. He still remembered the location of the Sweet Apple Restaurant. As they got closer and closer to the building, the appetizing aroma was thick in the air, Dust smelt it long before they got there, but now Berry could smell the delicious food coming from within.

Once in the restaurant, Dust could see a bit of a line here. A lot of other Pokemon were drawn in by the aroma it would seem.

When Dust made it to the counter, he saw the Appletun and Cherubi again. They looked happier than ever to see how bustling their business was today.

"Welcome to the Sweet Apple Restaurant. Will you be dining in or ordering to go?" Cherubi asked.

"To go," Dust answered back.

"Very well then, take one of our menus and see what you would like to go," Cherubi instructed.

There were menus stacked at the corner of the counter. There was a Bounsweet standing to the side.

"Once you've decided what you would like to order, you can tell our to go waitress the Bounsweet what you would like, and she will bring them out to you," Cherubi informed.

Dust nodded before grabbing a menu. They found a spot to look through the menu, and while Dust already had an idea on what he would want, Berry was still looking through the list, unsure of what to get exactly.

"Don't worry, there's no rush, and so far all their food is really great," Dust explained. "Last time I had the Psyduck hands, truly surpassed my expectations. Though I might try something more towards the sea section. And what sounds interesting to you?"

"Uh…" Berry hesitated, she was looking at the vegetarian options, but they made her unsure.

There were things like the Shroomish salad, the Oddish soup, the fruit salad, which was made from Applin, Cherubi, and Tropius fruits, there was also the Big Chikorita Leaf, which Berry had no idea was supposed to be other than a big leaf.

"Are there any non-Pokemon food?" Berry finally asked.

"Well most of our deserts don't have any Pokemon related ingredients," The Bounsweet answered. "But we do have the Stew of the Day. And because today is Princess Day, it's made with really special ingredients, ones I think you will find very satisfactory to your likings."

Berry looked at Dust for a moment, before shrugging, as much as a Goomy could shrug. "Sounds good to me."

"And I'll have the Magikarp Karp," Dust added.

"Alright then, I'll just take your menu and get you started up. Shouldn't be too long until your food is ready," Bounsweet smiled as she took back the menu before heading over to the kitchen to place their orders.

"You are going to love their food, I may have only been here one time but they are truly a remarkable restaurant," Dust excitedly explained. "Though I must admit, never would have expected a Marowak to be the one to cook. Then again, we've seen Brody cook before and his food is very impressive too."

"A Marowak? Huh, I wonder if they use their bones to cook with," Berry wondered.

The two of them chatted for a while until the Bounsweet came back with their bags. She had the bags remarkably well balanced on her head. "Here you go, hope you enjoy~"

"We will, thank you for your service," Dust thanked before taking the two bags with his mouth.

When Dust paid for the food they ordered at the counter, he left the restaurant. Berry gave him instructions on where to go. Dust was surprised when he went past White Leaf Town, and came across a cliff that showed the vast ocean.

"Here, I think this is a great spot to have our picnic, don't you?" Berry asked.

Dust sat the bags on the ground so that he could enjoy the view. "I say, where did you even find this spot?"

"This is White Peak. I actually came here on my first day when I got here," Berry answered. "Before I met you. I thought it was a good spot to be alone and think."

"I can see why, the view itself is almost breathtaking," Dust noted. "...If you mind me asking… What were you thinking when you were here last time?"

Berry hopped down from Dust's back as she put down the bag she had on her head. "I was mostly thinking about how I could be a good Crusaders, what my partner would be like, and if I could even make it. I always believed I was a weird, deformed, weak Wooper. And yet, I wanted to do some good in the world, show that I could be more than a weird Wooper who hatched wrong. Watching my brother looking weak, helpless, and sick, it made me want to help those who were in trouble. I didn't want to feel helpless again."

Dust remained silent, letting the words sink in. Thoughts of Berry's species came to mind but he pushed them aside, he knew it was a subject Berry wasn't very comfortable talking about, and he didn't want to ruin the moment. He remembered the advice Otti had given him and he had faith that in time Berry would come to know what she really is.

When Dust and Berry got their food out of the bags, they started to eat. Dust noticed that Berry ate soup with her mouth rather than with a spoon, not that she could really hold a spoon without it slipping from her antenna.

"Wow, this is really good stew," Berry complimented. "I never tasted anything quite like it before."

"I say, I thought the Psyduck was delicious, but this Magikarp even surpasses that!" Dust agreed before taking another bite.

Dust was only half way done with his meal when he saw that Berry had already finished her stew.

"Wow, you weren't kidding when you said you were hungry," Dust noted.

"Wish I could've savored it, but it's hard to do when I have to eat with my entire mouth like a Gulpin," Berry remarked, licking her lips.

There was a small bit left in the bowl, which Dust noticed for the first time, was a piece of beef, likely from a Miltank. Dust blinked, wondering if Berry just had beef stew. He waited but when Berry made no indication of knowing what she just ate, Dust was about to bring it up.

"Um Berry?" Dust asked, getting her attention. But just as he was about to tell her what she just ate, he stopped himself. He remembered how upset he made Berry, how angry she was with him over his mistake. He didn't want to do that again and thought to wait for a better time to let her know. Berry was still waiting for Dust, so he had to think of something new. "Um… So… how was the stew?"

Berry blinked. "It was… delicious. I don't think it was anything I've ever tasted before though."

"So you don't have an upset stomach? Or something of the sort?" Dust asked, now a bit curious how Berry's body would react to eating meat.

"Uh… no? Why would I?" Berry questioned, finding it odd for Dust to ask such a thing. "Do you think the food would be bad or something?"

"No no no no! Just curious, I mean," Dust paused once more, quickly thinking of a plausible reason. "They are fairly new, and I noticed that there were many Pokemon eating there. I do know that Pokemon do react differently when eating the same food, I was just curious and also worried if there were any negative symptoms from eating from a new restaurant. Sometimes the Pokemon Stomach has a different reaction to new food, and since the stew was something you never tried before, I couldn't help but be curious."

"Oh… well… I think I'm fine. If anything I feel like I could go for seconds," Berry replied before she opened her bag, bringing out a Rainbow Gummi. "For dessert, we can eat these Rainbow Gummies. A new team member of Team Silkwing, a Snivy named Ivy, gave them to me."

"Oh, I remember Talon mentioning a Snivy the last time I saw them," Dust noted. "I'm surprised he would let a Snivy join the team, especially after what happened with his family."

"What happened to Talon's family?" Berry asked in concern, she remembered Ivy telling her that Talon did have a problem with her species.

"Oh, probably shouldn't have brought it up, I find it rather uncomfortable, but Talon said that he moved on himself, at least concerning family," Dust shivered a bit at the thought of it before continuing. "You see, a Serperior had attacked and devoured his family, and if it wasn't for Chihiro, he wouldn't be here today."

"Oh… wow… I didn't know that." Berry frowned. "No wonder Ivy said that she's trying to help Talon get over his fear of her kind."

Dust sighed before nodding.

After a moment of silence while Dust was eating his Magikarp, and Berry was eating some of the Rainbow Gummies, Berry spoke up a curious question. "Um… Dust…? What… what do you know about… Goomy?"

Dust perked up a bit, both shocked and excited by the sudden question. "Oh, well as I mentioned before, there isn't much knowledge concerning Goomy," Berry seemed to be a bit disappointed at hearing that, but then Dust continued. "But that was before I met you. While there is still quite a lot left to learn, since being your partner, I think I've gathered quite the knowledge concerning Goomy. What would you like to know specifically?"

"Uh… well…" Berry hesitated a little. "There is a lot I should be asking, but I guess what I want to know right now is… could Goomy evolve? … I did say that I ran into Blizza earlier, and she looked different, she was a lot bigger, and stronger, I could sense it. And I was wondering if… I could evolve one day too. If… if I'm not a Wooper, then… I want to know if whatever I am _can_ even evolve at all."

Of all questions Berry could've asked, that one concerning her evolution actually stumped Dust. Not because he didn't know the answer, but because he actually had an idea to what the answer is, one that he knew Berry would very much not like to hear.

_After seeing Otti transform into a Goodra, I am almost 100 percent sure that Goomy can evolve into that. But I can't tell Berry that, not after her traumatizing experience with the wild Goodra. And not to mention her nightmare that followed afterwards._ Dust was deep in thought, forgetting that Berry was there, still waiting for an answer from him.

"Do you… not know?" Berry asked after a while of silence. _Or maybe it's better that I don't. I mean… that Goodra Splash and I encountered back at Waterfall Cavern… I still don't think I could become something like that, but… maybe I shouldn't deny the possibility? I mean I didn't expect Blizza to get so big and stand on two feet upon evolution, yet she did._

"..." Dust thought more on it, and while part of him didn't want to tell her, he felt deep down that she should know and that it wouldn't be fair if he kept her in the dark any longer. So taking a deep breath, he prepared for the worst. "I have… a theory. It was on the day when the guild was destroyed by the game of tag. Earlier that day, when you came by the lab searching for the others, you saw that Otti was a Goomy as she was helping me study your slime. There was actually more to that."

Berry blinked as she listened.

"You see," Dust continued. "Just before you came Otti had asked me if you ever had encountered any other Goomy before. When I told her no, I mentioned the Goodra you ran into before. Otti then transformed into Goodra and after seeing it for myself, I was more convinced that Goodra might be a possible evolution for Goomy. Also, she mentioned one other species, one I've never heard of before, Sliggoo, but before she could show me, that was when you showed up and after that the topic was dropped. So, to go back to your question, do I think Goomy can evolve? Yes, I do, but whether Goodra or this Sliggoo is the second evolution or perhaps a branch of evolution, I cannot say. You can always ask Otti, I'm sure she would be more than happy to help, though I do recall her being somewhat hesitant when she talked about Sliggoo… I hope… that answers your question. I'm really sorry if it wasn't the one you were looking for."

Berry gave a deflated look at Dust's answers. "So… I either become a crazy monster or a dumb, cowardly slug?"

Berry's answer surprised Dust to say the least. "Why would you become a dumb, cowardly slug? You are anything but that."

"You… really don't know anything about Sliggoo?" Berry asked, surprised. "I've never seen a Sliggoo before, but they have been talked about a lot back at home. They are said to be a rare slug-like Pokemon, but they've been joked that they're rare because of how cowardly and stupid they are. They apparently have small brains in their shells that are said to be on their backs, they can't see very well, and they are known to only eat, sleep, escape from enemies, and nothing else. But there are also creepy stories about them, like how a Sliggoo would eat anyone, even their own friends, because they can't see them that well. And they can spit _acidic_ slime that can melt Pokemon!"

"Berry, I may have no knowledge concerning Sliggoo, but all those rumors, stories and jokes about them may not even be true. And even if they are, whatever you evolve into will not dictate on who you are," Dust tried to reassure Berry. "Whether you evolve into a Goodra or a Sliggoo, you will always be you. Did Blizza act any different than she normally did back when she was a Jangmo-o?"

"Um… I guess she was aggressive… well, she was always aggressive… but I mean… I don't know much about the Jangmo-o line to say for sure…" Berry replied. _Tippi seemed less quiet and shy as a Metapod, but it could just be because she's more relaxed..._

"Their line is known to be a proud warrior race," Dust agreed before shaking his head. "But that doesn't change the fact that Blizza's personality, her thoughts, who she is was still the same on the inside. Berry, you are by far the most bravest, smartest, caring and gentle Berry I've ever met. And no evolution, whether it's true or not, will change that!"

"Heh… I guess…" Berry gave a small smile to Dust. "Though I've heard evolution could change some Pokemon as well…"

"Berry, no matter what happens, you will always be my partner, and my friend. Nothing will ever change that," Dust said with conviction.

"Good, then maybe you'll let me know if I try to melt you," Berry joked. "But seriously, it's something I need to think about. Evolution is permanent after all."

"I fully understand," Dust nodded. "And while I may not ever experience evolution, you will always have my support, whatever you decide to do. On that note, I was planning on getting you a gift, but since we both agreed that it'd be better to save the money, I thought that the food itself would suffice, but I did recall one other thing that Otti mentioned to me and I think you would like it."

"Hmm? What is it?" Berry asked curiously.

Dust reached for his bag and looked inside until he finally found what he was looking for. He pulled out the dark green rock with red triangular markings on the side. Dust took one more look before holding it out for Berry to see for herself.

"I found this back in the Phoenix Desert Dungeon, when we were in that underground tunnel. It was during my battle with the Shiny Trapinch when I tripped over it. I was so amazed by the rock that I decided to take it with me," Dust explained.

Berry blinked as she looked at the strange, perfectly oval shaped 'rock'. "... Uh… Dust…? I don't think this is a-"

The 'rock' suddenly moved around, cracks began to show around it, then it started to glow brightly. Both Dust and Berry were caught off guard with the sudden movement, cracks, and glow. Their eyes shut as the 'rock' shattered before them.

When the glowing faded, in the rock's place was a pale green creature that looked a little bit like a small dinosaur, it had a spike on its head, two stubby arms, two small feet, a pine cone-like tail, and a red diamond shape thing on its stomach.

"It's a… Larvitar," Dust said in disbelief. "... A baby one…"

Berry was staring in disbelief, her eyes widened, and her mouth hanging open. The Larvitar blinked open its eyes before giving a big smile. "MOMMY!"

That was when Dust realized that 'rock' was no rock, but a Larvitar egg.

Dust looked at Berry, and Berry looked at Dust.

"Mommy? Daddy?" The Larvitar questioned.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Team Night Tide screamed.

* * *

**Greatest Guy****: Traveling Master: **Yup, we've been waiting to add some more lore. And Syzygy is pretty important, and it might play an important role in the future… Or it might not, just have to wait and see. And yes, Dust is not very well experienced when it comes to socializing. That's what happens when you spent most of your life alone.

**Archer Ampharos****: DarkFoxKit:** Maybe. The Syzygy is certainly mysterious right now. You'll find out more about it later.

Yeah… about the Amaura, you should read our AN about it if you hadn't. We made a mistake when we were announcing the Amaura. It's not planned to be an early team member, it was something we came up with recently and were unsure if we wanted it to be on the future team or not.

**Charming Dew****: Traveling Master: **She had the plan laid out, the only problem was that she failed to realize that not many know about the Syzygy. But it worked out in the end, Chloe is safe now.

**Star Cancer****: DarkFoxKit:** Attract has different ways of affecting Pokemon, some stronger than others, for Brody it's pretty much mind control due to his curse around the opposite gender.

**FoxyKhai0209****: Traveling Master: **It was a tough situation, but they managed to save her. As for the Syzygy (pronounced as Si-zuh-jee), it is indeed a pretty powerful and important item, so I can see it being classified as such.

Yup, Brody will always be chivalrous, but the curse does bring some problems, and as to who had done that in the first place? Well Brody would love to find out as much as you, so you two will just have to wait.

**Guest #1****: DarkFoxKit:** Amaura isn't going to be the first dual type Pokemon on their team, like we said in the AN, we made a mistake, we weren't specific enough. The Amaura won't be introduced for a long time, Dust and Berry'll have a lot of other team members by then. The Amaura was just something we may or may not have joined the team later on, but we should've waited until we were closer to introducing the Amaura before asking, so people would know what kind of Pokemon would be on Team Night Tide before voting.

**Sweet Comet****: DarkFoxKit:** Not every Friday, only on Fridays when we have more chapters written.

**Guest #2****: Traveling Master: **As we mentioned before, we made a mistake concerning the Amaura. Just gonna have to wait until later when we get to that Amaura again.

**Star Leo****: DarkFoxKit:** You should probably wait to see what other Pokemon will join Team Night Tide before telling us to add the Amaura in. There was a reason why we were unsure about adding it in in the first place due to the typing of the Pokemon we plan on having join Team Night Tide. I like Amaura, I even used on In Pokemon X a long time ago, but its typing is terrible defensively, especially against Fighting types.

**The Moonfox Collective: ****Traveling Master: **Heh, yeah, Dust still has a lot of learning to do. Before joining the guild, he mostly keep to himself, hardly socializing with anyone else. Since being in the Unity Guild, he's been more social with Berry and a few others, but doesn't mean he learned the whole "Think before you speak." But Berry's retaliation did help at least. He'll get the hang of it...eventually.

Funny how you mentioned Sanji from One Piece, when I first created Brody long ago, Sanji was one of the inspirations I got for him, the other being Brock. But yes, instead of having just the simple moral code, I felt it would be better if they was a reason why Brody couldn't harm females. And very good guesses, may be true, may not, just have to wait and see. But yes, Crimson knowing about this information can bring new problems for Brody. And we have big plans for Team Night Tide in the future, plans that we hope you and the others will enjoy reading when we get to them.

**Guest #3****: DarkFoxKit:** Yes, the meat comes from wild Pokemon. Wild Pokemon are to the civilized Pokemon like how animals are to us. Although there might be a potential future idea with the ethics of eating wild Pokemon, for now, it's seen as a social norm. The carnivorous Pokemon need to get their meat from somewhere, they don't have the technology to make synthetic meat, and as long as the wild Pokemon haven't become civilized, it's fair game. As for if they hunt or farm, they can do both actually. There are some farms in the civilized Pokemon world where they farm livestock of wild Miltank and such. It may be something we'll show in the story later.

Heh, we appreciate people who say they like seeing how we handle how Pokemon eat meat. It's part of nature, and we shouldn't shy away from it, or make everything 'rainbows and sunshines' by saying they use synthetic meat. Personally I find that a cheap excuse to not go into the darker yet natural territory of predator and prey.

**Unknown 2949:** **DarkFoxKit:** Listen carefully. Donfyre isn't writing anymore, he is doing other things with his life now. He will not be continuing Human Legend, nor am I going to pick it up. If you ask us again, especially in a story that has no relation to Donfyre's story, we will either be ignoring your comment or deleting it.

**Lonelyboi69: Traveling Master: **Glad you enjoyed it. Thanks for the review.


	20. Chapter 20: A Baby and a Promise

**DarkFoxKit:** So… looks like this place is empty and safe… Maybe luck is on our side, and Dust and the others went back to the story.

**Traveling Master: **Well it was a pretty crazy party last week, what with celebrating your birthday. Maybe that's why we haven't seen anyone else sense then?

**DarkFoxKit:** Well then, that means we have the house to ourselves again! We should celebrate!

**Traveling Master: **Uh...maybe we shouldn't. I actually got some news for everyone.

**DarkFoxKit: *Was already bringing out the cake before hearing what TM just said*** Oh? What is it?

**Traveling Master: **So, for the last two months, I've been working as a screener, or someone who asks people about the virus before letting them in into a certain facility. Today was the last day of screening. I don't have to do that anymore, which means I have to go back to my old job. And the schedule makes it rather difficult to write with DF. Not impossible, just difficult. Doesn't mean I'm gonna stop working with DF, but it might mean updates might be a bit slower, but I promise that I'll try to use whatever time I have to work with DF. I really love this story and I don't want to give up on it.

**DarkFoxKit:** Don't worry, I'm sure the readers will understand, and we'll hopefully find a way to make it work. ***Is eating the cake*** Here, eat some. We might as well finish it up before it cakes old. It's got chocolate icing.

**?:** Did someone say… 'chocolate'?

**DarkFoxKit:** … Did… did you invite someone over, TM?

**Traveling Master: *I shake my head* **I didn't. Did you?

**DarkFoxKit:** No… no I didn't…

**?:** Chocolate… chocolate! CHOOOOCOLAAAAAAATE!

**DarkFoxKit: *Grabs the cake*** RUUUUUUUUUUN!

**Traveling Master: **Why is he here?! ***Starts running after DF***

**?: *Chases after them while screaming*** CHOOOOOCOLAAAAAATE!

**DarkFoxKit:** I don't know! Did Dust break the fourth wall in Spongebob too!?

**Traveling Master: **I don't see why, I don't even know why he would be messing with that universe!

***When DarkFoxKit and TM were far away, the crazy 'fish person' stopped chasing them and snickered. He looked at the audience before his body turned pink, turning into Mew***

**Mew:** Hehehehe, it's always fun to mess with them~ Go and enjoy the chapter, readers. Meanwhile, I must find a way to get that cake~

* * *

**Chapter 20: A Baby and a Promise**

Carrie frowned as she felt a disturbance.

"What's wrong, Mommy?" Chloe asked, noticing Carrie's reaction.

"Nothing deary," Carrie said, most trying to reassure herself, but the sensation was strong and she couldn't shake the feeling. "Actually, Chloe, you stay here with Chihiro and her grandkids. There's something I need to check on."

Carrie had been relaxing in the hot springs with Chihiro for Princess Day. They both decided to relax since they had been stressed with the piles of work they had to do on a daily basis.

"Carrie, you need to relax a little bit more, you're always so stressed out," Chihiro mumbled. "Sometimes you can be more worked up than a Primeape."

"Maybe, it has been pretty stressful the last few days, still trying to forget about that whole Snubbull ordeal," Carrie sighed. "I guess my body is still on high alert."

Then Chihiro noticed something. There was a new soul that was just born. "Although… that doesn't mean you're wrong either, Carrie."

Carrie sat up from her spot, facing towards where the Unity Guild would be. The longer she stared, the stronger that feeling grew inside. Despite spending most of the day relaxing, her maternal instincts were growing by the second.

"Chihiro, do you mind watching after Chloe while I'm gone?" Carrie asked, haven't taken her eyes off towards the guild.

Chihiro chuckled, likely knowing why Carrie wanted to check in on the guild. "Of course, Chloe is in safe claws~"

"Oooh, would you launch me like you do with Phantom and Spooks Auntie Chihiro?" Chloe smiled excitedly.

"That depends on your Mama," Chihiro chuckled lightheartedly. "Spooks and Phantom were made for launching, you… well you do have a hard head, but I rather have Carrie's permission before I even attempt to launch you."

"No launching, last thing we need is another repeat of what happened last year," Carrie warned.

"It wasn't that bad," Chihiro pouted.

"They almost banned us," Carrie countered. "Took weeks of service and apologizing for them to finally let us come back."

"Don't you have a guild to check?" The Dragapault grumbled.

"Yes. I won't be long, so please, don't do anything you'd normally do back at the guild," Carrie firmly warned before she started heading to the Unity Guild.

* * *

Dust and Berry were trying to sneak into the guild with the newborn Larvitar in Dust's bag. The Larvitar kept giggling, likely seeing this as some sort of game.

"Why are we sneaking into the guild with a baby again?" Berry whispered.

"Well where else are we supposed to hide this Larvitar? We just need time to figure out what to do with it before anyone finds out," Dust explained. "Oh I wish Carrie or Chihiro were here, they would most likely know what to do with this baby."

"If I knew you had an egg, I would've told you to drop it off at the Eggsecute Service. They're supposed to look after eggs until they hatch and educate them," Berry grumbled. "Now that the Larvitar's hatched, they can't properly have it imprint and educate it."

"Doesn't help that almost everyone is either gone or busy with today's holiday," Dust added. "Look, maybe if we can somehow get back to our room without anyone noticing we have a baby with us, we can wait until it falls asleep, then go from there."

"How did you not know you found an egg? For someone so smart, you can be stupid at times!" Berry hissed.

"You think I spend my time studying eggs? My mother forbade me from even coming within reaching distance of any eggs back in my old guild!" Dust countered. "And it's not like every book I've read on eggs provided exact pictures of every Pokemon out there!"

"Mommy!" Larvitar giggled, popping out of Dust's bag.

"No, no, get back in the bag!" Berry whispered frantically. "Great, we have a baby who thinks we're her parents… Phantom, Spooks, and Chloe are never going to let me live this down if they ever found out about this."

"'Her'? How can you tell this Larvitar is female?" Dust questioned.

"... I just do, okay?" Berry huffed, not seeming to want to share how she could tell the Larvitar was female.

Dust wanted to further question Berry on the topic, but before he could Dust almost bumped into someone as they turned the corner.

Dust didn't bump into the Pokemon hard enough to fall over, thankfully, but it did startle him. A familiar Rockruff was wagging her fluffy tail. "Hey! What do you have with you? I smell a fellow Rock type! A new kind!"

"Roxy! How many times do I have to tell you not to go running off just because you smell something new?" A familiar Purrloin grumbled as he ran up to Roxy.

Of all Pokemon Dust had to bump into, it had to be the one with a sharp nose. "Ah, Roxy, Caper, pleasure running into you two. And no need to worry, all is forgiven, now if you'll excuse us, we will be on our way."

Dust tried to maneuver around Roxy but the Rockruff stepped right in front of him, blocking his path. "Hold it! You never answered my question!"

Caper sighed. "Roxy, you're being rude…"

"Hey, it's Princess Day, so me asking a question isn't being rude, it's… a princess wanting to know an answer!" Roxy huffed.

"Technically she is right," Dust nodded, only to get soaked with water at the back of his head. He turned to see Berry giving him a look, reminding him to focus. "But we are actually pretty busy at the moment. Perhaps another time?"

"Too busy to answer just one question?" Roxy asked with an accusing tone.

Caper looked at Dust and Berry, now his eyes intrigued. "It does sound like you're hiding something with how nervous you look, and how you are trying for a hasty retreat."

Dust tried thinking of any excuse of how to dissuade Team Toxic Stars from finding out about the baby Larvitar hiding in his satchel. _If only it hadn't hatched, I could've maybe passed it off as a rock… A rock? That might work._

"Okay, you caught us," Dust lied. "I was actually doing a little project for Otti. You see I came across a special looking rock, one I've never seen before. I've been studying it ever since, but Otti had told me to leave it behind in the lab so that I can spend Princess Day with Berry. But we just got word that something had happened to the rock and asked us to come as soon as possible. So you can see that we are both running short on time."

"Y-yeah…" Berry hesitantly agreed.

"Oh, is that all?" Roxy sounded disappointed, but stepped aside to let Dust go.

Caper, however, was still watching Dust as he started to move past them with Berry on his back. The Purrloin didn't seem to buy the excuse Dust said, but if Caper wasn't going to do anything about it, then Dust wasn't going to complain.

Dust and Berry were halfway across the hall, trying not to look back at Team Toxic Stars. As long as they remained calm, they would be able to make their way to their room, unfortunately the baby Larvitar had other plans.

"Hungry!" The baby Larvitar whined as she stuck her head out of the satchel.

This caused Dust and Berry to freeze.

"I KNEW IT!" Roxy shouted, causing the other guild members around them to look in their direction, seeing the Larvitar in Dust's satchel.

"Hold on… is that a _baby_ Larvitar?" Caper questioned, seeing the youngling.

"N-now one second, there's a perfectly reasonable explanation for all of this," Dust nervously chuckled as he was slowly backing away from Team Toxic Stars.

"Ooooh… were you taking that baby back to the Research Lab… to _experiment_ on it?" Roxy asked, her eyes widened.

Suddenly the other guild members were whispering to each other in concern.

"Surely the Absol wouldn't experiment on a child, would he?"

"He _does_ like to spend a lot of time at the Research Lab with Otti…"

"Plus, aren't Larvitar supposed to be super rare?"

Dust couldn't believe what he was seeing, it was like being back at his old guild. But instead of the comfort of being home, or in the quiet, peaceful library he grew to love, instead he was reminded of all the other Pokemon who mocked him before, called him names, who couldn't stand the thought of even being near him. Dust had grown to ignore all of them before, but to see it happening again at his new guild caused him much discomfort. His mind was racing, his heart beat increasing while he started taking shorter breaths. But then only one thing came to mind.

_Run!_ The idea came to his head and Dust did not hesitate to listen. Turning away from all the other guild members, he ran off, much to everyones' surprise.

"Dust!" Berry shouted frantically.

Dust didn't seem to hear her, he kept running, needing to get away from the voices and the judgemental eyes, however, he also wasn't watching where he was going, and he ended up slamming into something hard, which knocked him back to the floor, and caused Berry to fall off of him, and the Larvitar too. The Larvitar began crying at the sudden fall.

Dust looked up and saw a familiar Kangaskhan, looking at him with questioning eyes. _Not you too? _Dust thought, only thinking about his old experience at his old guild.

Upon seeing the crying Larvitar, Carrie immediately picked up the baby, trying to comfort the child. "Shh, it's okay. Did you hurt yourself falling?"

The Larvitar sniffled, but calmed down in the arms of a comforting figure. Carrie then heard the Larvitar's stomach growling with hunger. "Oh, looks like someone wants to eat. Let go get you some Moomoo milk, does that sound good?"

The Larvitar nodded and gave a slight giggle, causing Carrie to smile before turning her attention back to Dust and Berry.

"You two have some explaining to do, but that can wait. First let's take care of this child first, shall we?" Carrie asked.

Dust blinked, looking puzzled at Carrie's calm reaction. Berry shook her head, re-orientating herself from the fall. "Uh… yeah… we're actually glad you're here, Carrie. We weren't really sure what to do about the baby. But… Dust kind of freaked out for a moment there."

Dust didn't reply, he was still thinking about what the other guild members were saying and was still confused by Carrie's reaction.

"Like I said, let's take care of the baby first, then we'll get answers later," Carrie repeated once more before heading towards the cafeteria. "We'll get this straightened out soon."

Berry looked at Dust, seeing that he was still on the floor. "Dust? Are you okay? We really should go with Carrie."

Dust looked at Berry, seeing the concern on her face. After seeing her, Dust started to calmed down a bit, his breathing returning to normal and his heartbeat slowing back to a regular pace. "...Right, we best be going then."

Dust got up from the ground and waiting for Berry to climb back on. Once she was on, Dust followed after Carrie, though whenever they passed a fellow guild member, Berry noticed Dust would look away from them, as though to avoid making any eye contact.

"Is… something wrong, Dust?" Berry asked in concern. "You seem… somber and more… self conscious than usual."

Dust looked back at Berry, a bit startled by her question. "Oh… Nothing to worry about. Just… a bit exhausted from all the sudden running I did. That's all."

The Goomy frowned. "If you're worried about what the other guild members think of you, I'm sure we can get everything straightened out soon."

Dust frowned before turning away from Berry. "There's no need to do that. I'm sure with time they will most likely move on and forget about it. And if not, can't let what others say or think about you bother you, just have to ignore them. I've done it before back at my old guild, you'd be surprised how often I came across a fellow guild member who wasn't very fond of me. But I supposed when you built up a reputation as the Absol who attracts trouble, can't really blame them for thinking like that."

"... No," Berry suddenly said.

Dust stopped and looked back at Berry, both confused and shocked by her sudden reply. "No? What do you mean, no?"

"No, I don't agree with your statement," The Goomy answered. "Listen, Dust… I grew up trying to pretend that what others say didn't bother me, that I was used to all their harsh words, name calling, and what they think. But it's impossible to truly not let words bother you. It's what shaped me to be a mess. And with how you reacted just now, it made you a mess too. You can't say you can't let it bother you, because it will always bother you, whether you realize it or not. Sometimes you have to speak up for yourself. Or sometimes… if that doesn't work, then the best thing you can do is leave. Staying in a toxic environment like that will only hurt you more in the long run."

Dust stared at Berry for a few seconds, taking in her words before turning away to continue following Carrie. "I thought it was something I had grown used to. Having spent most of my life by myself, I've gotten used to just ignoring other Pokemon and their thoughts. Seeing everyone react like that just now… despite having been through it before at my old guild, I guess my body started to… freak out on its own, the mere thought of having to go through that again started to make me panic."

"Then don't let it happen again," Berry said softly. "It doesn't _have_ to happen again."

"Yeah… hopefully not," Dust sniffled a bit, bringing his right forearm to rub against his snout. "Thanks, haven't really told anyone about that. Not even my mother. I always figured with her being part of the council, if she found out she'd tried to fix the problem herself, and I can only see that making things worse than they already were back then."

"Whatever happened in your old guild, it doesn't have to happen here. You have friends here, and the Pokemon here do respect you," Berry reminded. "I think they were just wondering what you were doing with a baby Larvitar."

"And I supposed running away didn't exactly give the best impression," Dust chuckled a bit.

"No… but I'm sure they'll understand once you explain the situation," Berry assured.

"Well there's a first for everything," Dust agreed, though he was still having conflicting feelings, he was a bit better than before.

* * *

Dust and Berry finally made it to the cafeteria. Carrie was already feeding the young Larvitar some mounds of dirt with bits of berries crushed in the dirt. Dust figured the Larvitar would eat some berries, but never thought it would consume dirt with it.

"Why are you feeding the Larvitar dirt? Shouldn't the berries be enough?" Dust asked.

Carrie shook her head. "A newborn Larvitar is usually born underground. Once they're born, they tend to eat dirt, rocks, and whatever berries they could find. Most Larvitar don't come out from under the ground until after they've eaten a mountain of dirt and rocks."

"Fascinating," Dust noted.

"No," Carrie corrected. "What's fascinating is that you two had somehow come across a baby Larvitar. Now mind explaining how this came to be?"

"Dust was the one who found it, I didn't even know about it until he showed it to me just before the Larvitar hatched," Berry replied.

"It recently hatched?" Carrie shockingly asked. "Dust, where did you exactly find the egg?"

"In the Phoenix Desert Dungeon, when me and Berry were underground," Dust explained.

Then Dust went and told Carrie of what had transpired when they were in the dungeon, from their encounter to the group of Trapinch, his fight with a shiny one, and that during the fight he tripped over what he thought was a rock at the time.

"Well, seeing how you are, I don't blame you for thinking the egg was a rock. A Larvitar egg tend to be much more studier, so I can see how you made the mistake. Still, really wish you'd shown us the egg before it hatched," Carrie sighed at the circumstances. "As she is now, she will want to stick with you and Berry because she left an imprint on both of you. She will not be able to concentrate on her education at the Eggsecute Service."

Berry frowned. "I'm sorry, if I hadn't passed out during the report, you all might've seen the egg Dust was keeping in his satchel."

"Doesn't help that after passing out, with everything else that happened, the rock...egg had slipped my mind. I only remembered it earlier today," Dust added.

"What should we do about the Larvitar though?" Berry asked.

"You'll have to do things the old fashion way," Carrie answered. "Before the Eggsecute Service was a thing, Crusaders would take care of the eggs on their own, and raise the baby Pokemon themselves. They _can _get help from other Pokemon though, Pokemon with experience with taking care of a child. In some ways, the old way was better than the Eggsecute Service, as it allows the child to bond with their teammates early on, and become fiercely loyal to them, and will do anything to keep them safe. On the other hand, it can also be a bit of a burden on the Crusaders to have to keep taking care of the child until they're old enough to take care of themselves. Evolution can also help them mature quicker too, but a Larvitar takes a while to evolve."

Berry groaned. "So more babysitting?"

Carrie couldn't help but chuckle. "Well, be glad you've got some experience then, Berry. You could always try to go back to where you found the Larvitar's egg and see if you can find her real parents, but that would make things difficult, especially if the Larvitar's parents are wild. They will think you stole their child and will attack you on sight, which will also scare the Larvitar, she will not see them as her parents, she will see them as angry monsters."

"That is quite the predicament," Dust noted. "And I'm sure we already established this, but you think it's really a good idea that I watch over this child too? I've been told that me and children would not mix very well."

"I think this might be a good experience for you, just as long as you don't try to experiment on the child," Carrie said. "Berry will help you, and if you two truly need help, you can let me or Chihiro know. We have experience with child care after all."

"I can only imagine what my mother would think," Dust shuddered, already imagining her deadly presence. "I would say we should keep this a secret, but I think everyone at least has heard of the baby Larvitar at this point."

"I'll be sure to let them know about the situation, they might even be happy to help you with the Larvitar," Carrie chuckled.

"How long would it take for a Larvitar to mature?" Berry asked.

"Depends. Wild Larvitar mature as they eat. They usually stay close to their parents until they are fed well enough to later evolve," Carrie explained. "Since they are wild, they have to mature quickly to survive, but this Larvitar may be a special case. She's already showing signs of civilized qualities, but still retains being part wild… She's already capable of some basic form of speech, so I wouldn't be surprised if within a week or two she'd be mature enough to join you two on missions."

"Wait, we'll have to babysit her for two weeks without being able to go on missions?" Berry frowned.

"No, no, you can still go on missions, you'll just have to leave the Larvitar with me or Chihiro until you're done," Carrie clarified. "But you will have to try to explain to the Larvitar you'll be back, otherwise she'll think you're abandoning her, which is not good for a newborn's psyche."

"Interesting, I'll definitely have to take some notes then," Dust mentioned as he was already forming ideas in his head.

"No experiments!" Carrie reprimanded Dust.

"I know!" Dust quickly said. "I just wish to merely observe her as she grows. I promise, no experiments, whatsoever."

"Good, cause if I find out that you've done even one small experiment on this child, so help me Arceus I'll make sure you'll end up in the Medical Bay till the remainder of your days," Carrie threatened.

Dust gulped as he nodded. _The only other time I've ever seen such animosity was from my own mother… Note to self, never cross a mother and her child._

"Good," Carrie's expression softened as she turned her attention back to the baby Larvitar. "Now, have you two decided on a name for the child?"

Both Dust and Berry looked at each other.

"No… we weren't even sure what we would do with the Larvitar after she hatched so suddenly," Berry admitted.

"Then try to think of a name for her, she'll need to hear it over and over before she realizes that's her name," Carrie stated.

"Hmm…" Dust tried thinking of an appropriate name. "How about… Dirt? Since she's eating dirt?"

"Really? Dirt?" Berry deadpanned. "That's like calling me Gooey, or you Dusk."

"Funny how you mentioned that, my mother did accidently slipped that Dusk might have been my actual name, but I see your point," Dust noted. "Okay… how about… Larvi? Or maybe… Tar?"

"How about I call you Ab or Sol from now on?" Berry asked.

"Sol would've been an interesting name, though I can see it giving others the wrong idea about me. Can you imagine an Absol named Sol?" Dust chuckled at the notion.

Berry shook her head. "Yeah, I think it would imply you eat Pokemon's souls."

"Really? I was thinking more of others mistaking I was a Sol Rock before finding out I was an Absol," Dust added. "Well, what did you have in mind?"

Berry shrugged, as much as she could. "I was thinking maybe Sandy, or…"

The Larvitar began playing with her food, making what looked like a cliff with the pile of dirt that was left on the plate.

"Hmm… what about Cliff?" Berry suggested after seeing the crudely makeshift cliff dirt pile. "Like how a Rock Type could create cliffs with their Rock attacks, and stand tall like a Tyrantiar would."

"Oh, interesting… Cliff does seem to make sense too," Dust noted before turning his attention towards the Larvitar and moving closer to her. "Tell me, do you like the name, Cliff?"

The Larvitar looked at Dust before giggling, getting a stubby armful of dirt before putting it in front of Dust's face. "Daddy, eat!"

"She's not yet mature enough to understand your words, but if you two can agree on 'Cliff' being her name, then just keep calling her that, she will eventually accept it as her name," Carrie reassured.

Dust took a step back while giving a nervous chuckle over almost having dirt shoved in his mouth. "We'll keep that in mind."

The Larvitar, now named Cliff, smiled before she suddenly hopped at Dust, shoving the dirt into his mouth. Dust was not prepared and would've spit out the dirt if it wasn't for the fact that Cliff was moments away from falling on the ground. With quick reaction, Dust managed to catch Cliff, but almost dropped her by her sudden weight. Because of the sudden shock of her jumping, her weight, and all his strength to hold her, Dust ended up accidentally swallowing the dirt that was in his mouth.

Berry looked at Dust in concern, seeing all this happening at once. "A-are you okay, Dust?"

Cliff was giggling happily in her 'daddy's' hold.

After coughing for a couple seconds and spitting out any remaining dirt inside his mouth, Dust was finally able to reply. "How are you this heavy? You weren't this heavy when you first hatched!"

Carrie laughed after seeing what just happened. "Well that's because she hadn't eaten back then. A Larvitar's meal usually consists of dirt, rock, and any other substances you'd find in a mountain. Add that with some berries and she'll end up being a fast growing child."

"Wish I knew that before, I would've been more prepared," Dust said as he felt something stuck between his teeth. He would've picked it out, but at the moment, both his arms were currently occupied holding Cliff.

"You can try putting her down," Berry suggested, seeing how Dust was struggling to keep Cliff in his arms, especially since he was a quadruped Pokemon, he couldn't keep both of his arms up for very long.

Dust nodded before setting Cliff on the ground. He gave a sigh of relief before picking out whatever was lodged in between his teeth. Meanwhile Cliff stumbled for a moment, never having walked before. But after a few shaky steps, she started moving towards Berry while holding out her arms.

Berry looked at Cliff, surprised that the Larvitar was already trying to walk, and to walk towards her. Berry, of course, had no experience in walking herself, since she had no feet or legs to walk with, but she was impressed nonetheless. Berry slithered a little closer to Cliff to make it easier for the newborn Larvitar to reach her. Cliff smiled when she got closer to Berry. She then tripped and was about to fall, but Berry quickly came right under her, so Cliff landed on Berry's soft and gooey head.

"Careful there, Cliff, don't want you to hurt yourself, even if your hide is as thick as a rock," Berry chuckled lightly.

Cliff started to giggle some more. "Mommy squishy!"

Then, out of curiosity, the Larvitar started to tap her own chest, as if trying to see if her body was as squishy as her ''mommy's'. Cliff gave a pout when she couldn't squish her body.

Berry couldn't help but chuckle at this. "Mommy's skin is special, Cliff. Your skin is hard and meant to take… harder things than Mommy can."

Cliff tilted her head, not fully understanding what Berry meant. But then giggled once more as she went back to hugging Berry. Cliff didn't seem bothered by Berry's goo.

"Berry, are you okay? I mean, you did just used your entire body to catch her," Dust asked, concerned after seeing Cliff almost fall.

"Yeah… Despite my soft head, I'm used to Tackling hard things, even stone, so Cliff's body didn't hurt me," Berry reassured before she wrapped her antennae around Cliff's body in her own version of a hug.

"Interesting, despite weighing much more than you, your body was able to absorb the difference," Dust noted. "Probably helped that you still have your Defense Scarf on."

Carrie couldn't help but smile at seeing Berry hugging the Larvitar. It was likely a rare moment for the Goomy to be hugged and able to hug back herself.

"Good, if you keep showing your love to Cliff, she'll bond with you quickly." Carrie smiled. "I'll have to give you a list on how to take care of a young Larvitar later. And I suggest you spend at least one or two days with the child before taking on another mission. By then she should grow a bond with you two. Continue to talk to her, she'll start to pick up on your words and understand you easier, so when you do on your missions, it'll be easy to explain you'll be back."

"I guess we can do that. We've wracked up quite a lot of points for our team rank, so we should be able to finish enough missions to earn us the right to participate in the upcoming tournament by the end of the month," Berry said, looking at Dust, though she was still hugging Cliff. "And… this could be a good experience for you."

"I supposed it does help that Larvitar are very sturdy Pokemon, so we don't have to worry about me causing her any harm," Dust nodded.

Just then Cliff let out a yawn as she started leaning more towards Berry, using her as a sort of bed. Carrie chuckled as she picked up the Larvitar as she slowly rocked the child between her arms. "Well looks like it's been a long day for everyone, I think it's about time everyone retires for the day."

"Where is Cliff going to sleep?" Berry asked. "I guess she could take my bed in our room for the time being. I could just sleep in the water pot."

"Why not sleep with her? You seem to be pretty good at this… 'mommy' stuff," Dust suggested.

"My goo is still toxic, Dust. I don't want to expose Cliff to too much of my goo until we get her a Pecha Scarf," Berry informed.

"Fair point, then I guess it'll have to be your bed for the time being," Dust nodded.

"Don't stay up too late," Carrie said. "I should get back to the hot spring. Chihiro and Chloe are waiting for me. I'll be sure to send you two the list on Larvitar care in the morning though."

So Berry hopped on Dust's back as they followed Carrie back to their room. Once there Carrie carefully put Cliff down on Berry's bed, making sure not to wake her up. Dust went to his own, turning around a couple times before laying down as Berry climbed into the pot of water. Saying her goodnights, Carrie left Team Night Tide alone in their room. Dust took a moment to study Cliff, still finding it hard to believe that the 'rock' he found had been an egg the whole time. He would've taken notes, but he was too exhausted, so he figured he could get an early start tomorrow.

Dust didn't know how long it was since he fell asleep, but the sudden shift of weight on his bed caused him to sit up. Despite it being dark, his eyes quickly adjusted and he saw that Cliff wasn't on Berry's spot. He started to worry when he felt something press against his stomach. Looking down he saw that Cliff had managed to climb up to his bed and was now lying against his body. Dust didn't know how to react at first, but he supposed that for now, he didn't mind the baby Larvitar sleeping by his side. Laying back down, he curled up more around Cliff, making sure that she was secured before succumbing to sleep once more.

* * *

Early the next morning, it was barely the crack of dawn, the Dodrio hadn't even gotten up yet to make the morning alarm. However, something loud and obnoxious did wake up the groggy and sleepy Dust, as well as Berry, and that was a loud banging noise coming from their door, as well as crying coming from a startled baby Larvitar.

The loud knocking and Cliff crying was starting to give Dust a headache. He would've checked to see who was at the door, but since Cliff was currently lying against him, he was a bit pinned down.

"Berry, can you get the door!?" Dust shouted, barely able to hear himself.

A very grumpy looking Goomy slithered out from the water pot, looking quite annoyed herself. She slithered over to the door before opening it with her antenna, ready to give the rude Pokemon a piece of her mind, when she saw it was a familiar Groyvle.

"Grant?" Berry frowned. "Do you know what time it is right now?"

"Yeah, it's time for you to keep your promise," Grant grunted, ignoring the crying Larvitar as Dust tried to calm her down.

Berry grumbled, remembering that she had indeed promised that she would spar with him if he had looked over Phantom and Spooks, which he did poorly from what she heard, so she, Brody, and Dust could go save Chloe.

"Couldn't this have waited later in the morning?" Berry hissed, feeling more annoyed than worried right now.

"I've waited long enough. Each time I tried looking for you, you were always unavailable. Didn't help that Brody butted in and made me promise to leave you alone during Princess Day. But no more, it's time we've had our match!" Grant answered.

"Hush! You're being too loud!" Berry snapped. "If I go spar with you, will you leave me alone?"

Grant said nothing except grinned as he crossed his arm, giving her a firm nod.

"Fine, then let's go spar at the Dojo and get it over with," Berry grumbled.

"Okay, you two have fun… I guess I'll just stay here with Cliff then," Dust called out as Berry was leaving.

"Where's mommy going?" Cliff asked, somewhat calming down.

"Oh, she's about to battle someone. She made a promise a while ago, and I guess he's here to collect," Dust explained. He thought everything would be fine, but then he noticed Cliff was starting to tear up again. "Uh, what's wrong?"

"I want Mommy," Cliff sniffled.

"Of course, but she's occupied at the moment. I'm sure she'll be back-" Dust tried explaining, only to be cut off by Cliff crying once more.

"I want Mommy!" Cliff cried.

_Uh oh. _Dust thought to himself. _Okay, she wants to see Berry, but she's gone. I could take her to the dojo, but would that be wise to show a child a battle at such a young age? Maybe I should-_

Cliff cried louder, causing Dust to cover his ears. "Okay, lets go to your Mommy!"

Cliff then perked up at that, seeming to understand that she just won their little 'argument'. Dust wondered if Cliff was smarter than she appeared to be.

Since Berry wasn't on Dust's back, Dust decided to try to carry Cliff on his back. Cliff was much heavier than Berry however. And Cliff was constantly tugging on his fur, causing him to wince in pain from time to time, but he knew she had to, else she might fall off. Dust wanted to get to the dojo as soon as possible, but knew he had to go slow to minimize any risks of Cliff getting hurt.

"Hey, Cliff?" Dust said before yelping after Cliff tugged on his fur. "Could you not pull so hard?"

Cliff pouted a little, though she couldn't understand his words, she sensed that he was telling her to stop.

Dust had never been so relieved to make it to the Dojo. There, he saw that Vesper the Corviknight already set everything up for Berry and Grant to battle.

"Same rules as usual, the other will stop when one gets knocked out," Vesper announced. "None of the moves should be made with the intent to kill or seriously injure, or you will be disqualified."

"Excuse me, Vesper?" Dust called out to the Corviknight. "Can you tell me where Berry is?"

Vesper greeted the Absol before pointing towards where Berry was. Dust also noticed that Grant was standing by the corner with his arms crossed. But even from here, Dust could see the excitement building in the Grovyle.

"Alright, let's go say hi to...uh...mommy," Dust suggested to Cliff, who happily hopped his back, giving him much relief.

"Mommy!" Cliff smiled as she went over to Berry.

"Cliff?" Berry looked at the Larvitar in surprise before seeing Dust. "You brought her here?"

Dust held up both paws to show innocence. "Hey, it wasn't my original plan, but as soon as she saw you left, she wouldn't stop crying. I tried explaining to her that you were going to be busy and that you'd return, but that only caused her to cry even more. As soon as I agreed to take her to you, she immediately calmed down."

Berry sighed before she looked at Cliff. "Cliff, Mommy needs to take care of something first before she can play with you, okay? It might be too dangerous for you to stay though."

Before Cliff could reply, a voice shouted out to them. "Found them!"

They all turn to see a familiar Charmeleon called out to someone. Shortly after, Brody came walking in, glad to see Berry, confused to see Cliff, and annoyed at seeing Grant.

"Berry! I am very sorry about this morning. Had I known what Grant was planning, I would've put a stop to it. No one should ever disrupt your beauty sleep," Brody apologized.

"Step aside, Brody, nobody's interrupting this spar. I've been waiting far too long for it," Grant stated.

"I'll have to warn you that you'll be disappointed," Berry spoke up. "I sometimes have outbursts of power, but that doesn't mean _I'm_ strong myself."

"Say what you will, I don't really care. Winning or losing doesn't matter. What matters is the fight itself, so don't go holding back on me," Grant grinned.

Berry sighed, obviously not looking forward to this battle. "Dust, come and take Cliff, I don't want her to be too close to me when I'm battling."

Dust nodded. "Come on Cliff, let's get to a safe distance."

Cliff nodded as she followed after Dust. The two went to the side of the Dojo, a safe distance away from Berry and Grant as Brody and Al joined them.

"So… what's up with the Larvitar? Any reason why she's been calling Berry mommy?" Al asked while making funny faces at Cliff, causing her to giggle.

"I've been meaning to ask that too," Brody added in. "Did she...you know? Is there a father?"

"No!" Dust quickly said. "I mean yes, but no!"

Brody and Al blinked, a little confused by Dust's words.

"Did it look like Berry could've laid an egg and have it hatched in a day?" Dust questioned, he at least knew enough to know an egg would take several weeks to months to hatch.

"Well it's not like we haven't seen Berry that often. And there was that one time she was constantly staying in her room," Al pointed out. "I mean… maybe that's why she avoided others, maybe she was busy with the egg or something."

"No!" Dust shouted before he sighed. "Look, I found the Larvitar's egg in Phoenix Desert and brought it back, thinking it was a rock, okay? She just hatched yesterday evening, and I guess Berry and I were the first Pokemon she saw, so she imprinted on us, that's why she's calling Berry 'mommy'."

"So that would mean you're technically the father," Al blinked before turning to Brody. "You know, I was only joking about their relationship before, but I didn't think they would take it this far-"

Brody punched him on top of the Charmeleon's head, leaving a good sized bruise. "I think that's enough out of you. And sorry about the intrusion, was just curious at seeing a Larvitar suddenly calling Berry mommy."

"Don't worry about it, I know you were just curious. I'd probably be asking the same questions if our roles were reversed," Dust explained.

"Which Brody probably would've wanted," Al joked, only to receive another blow to his head, adding to his already big bruise.

Cliff just blinked at the two.

"You may begin!" Vesper called out, causing everyone to turn their attention to Berry and Grant.

Grant didn't waste any time to rush at Berry, the leaves on his arms turning into one sharp scythe-like blades. Berry yelped as Grant brought down his Leaf Blade onto her, but it didn't seem to do anything to her. The Leaf Blade bounced off her body, and Berry had a red aura for a second.

Grant took a moment to assess what just happened. He then grinned, already feeling the adrenaline pumping through his body. "Interesting."

Berry still thought it was weird how her body was completely immune to Grass type attacks, even ones like Leaf Blade, but she knew she had to act quickly. Berry jumped over Grant before slamming down on his head with her Body Slam. Dust remembered all too well with being hit by Berry's Body Slam.

Dust was hoping that move would've been enough, but the Grovyle stood his ground, even smiling from the blow.

"Not bad, now let's see how you handle this!" Grant shouted as he reared his head back, preparing to smash Berry against the ground.

Berry yelped as her body was a bit stuck to Grant, enough so that she couldn't jump away in time before she was smashed onto the ground with a SPLAT. Though she surprisingly managed to reform herself quickly. Dust had made sure to cover Cliff's eyes just before Grant made contact. He gave a sigh of relief after seeing that Berry was okay.

Grant closed into Berry with another blade-like attack, this time his leaves were glowing a deadly red color. Berry quickly shot out a purple Dragon Breath attack into Grant's face before he could bring down his X-Scissor attack. Thanks to Berry's attack, Grant barely missed her, swinging just above her head.

Grant immediately jumped back as he coughed to clear away the recent attack to his face. Once done, his prepared to attack once more, but suddenly his body was twitching. Dust recognized what had happened to the Grovyle's body.

"Berry! He's paralyzed! His movements are limited, this is your chance!" Dust shouted.

Berry knew that Absorb and Water Gun wouldn't do much to a Grass type, so her best moves were Body Slam and Dragon Breath right now. After being splattered on the floor earlier, Berry decided to go for another Dragon Breath attack, though this time she decided to try an experiment of her own since Grant was slowed down due to the paralysis, Berry began trying to condense the Dragon Breath attack, much like how she did when she had one of her outbursts. Dust was surprised when he saw Berry creating the ball of draconic energy near her mouth, it reminded him the first time she used Dragon Breath on Blizza.

"I can't… I can't believe it!" Dust said with awe. "She's actually gonna do it! With this she'll surely win!"

"Oooooh, pretty ball!" Cliff said in awe, unable to take her eyes away from the battle.

Unfortunately, however, Berry wasn't quite as skilled at condensing the energy as she was when she was in one of her outbursts mode, the orb suddenly exploded in front of Berry's face, which sent out a wave of draconic energy throughout the arena. It didn't hit the Groyvle very hard since most of it was unfocused and weakened, the brunt of it hit Berry though, and her body was now feeling quite numb.

"Uh-oh…" Berry frowned, realizing she screwed up.

Grant frowned seeing that Berry had ended up paralyzing herself. He let out a sigh before taking a deep breath to focus his energy. Despite being paralyzed himself, he started moving towards her until he was standing right in front of her. He pulled back his arms as the leaf turned to a shade of black.

Just before Grant used Night Slash on Berry, he gave her a final nod. "Nice match."

Berry tried to move but her body refused to listen as it remained in place due to her paralysis. With that Grant swung his attack hard, hitting the top of Berry's head with Night Slash. Berry's eyes were swirling, she was pretty much knocked out, but not knocked out cold. She could easily wake up if she needed to.

"That's it! Grant is the winner!" Vesper called out.

"Mommy… lost?" Cliff frowned.

"..." Dust took a moment to think of the right response. "Yes… She lost."

Vesper flew over to Grant and Berry, she gave Grant a Cheri Berry and an Oran Berry, while she fed Berry a Tiny Reviver Seed.

Berry quickly regained consciousness, her body fine since Grant didn't seriously damage her. She sighed, realizing that she made a stupid mistake with her Dragon Breath, and that was what costed her the match.

Sensing what she was thinking, Grant called out her name. "Berry. Don't regret the decision you made. You saw an opportunity and you took it. You listened to your gut and that's what matters."

Berry sighed as she looked at Grant. "But you see now that I'm not actually that strong, right?"

"So?" Grant questioned. "What I see is someone who has potential. You're a lot stronger than what you think. Hone your skills and have more confidence in yourself. And when you lose, get back up and try harder. Learn from your loss and get better. Losing is just half the battle."

As Grant was saying this, Dust was taking it all in himself. A part of him knew this already, but hearing it from someone else made him remember how he felt after his loss to Crimson, he now knew what he had felt that day; his pride being shattered, and a need to prove himself in a rematch. What Grant said rekindled his determination to get stronger again.

"Mommy get stronger," Cliff said. "Daddy strong like Mommy, right?"

Dust was about to correct Cliff that between him and Berry, she was actually stronger than him, but after seeing her hopeful look in her eyes and after hearing Grant's speech, Dust changed his mind. "You're absolutely right. I am strong like Mommy, but just as she will get stronger, so will I."

"Then I get strong too!" Cliff smiled, looking proud and determined.

Dust saw Brody walk up to Grant, thinking that the Lucario was gonna congratulate his teammate, when suddenly Brody punched Grant on top of his head, leaving a similar sized bruise like Al's.

"Brody! What the heck?!" Grant shouted as he rubbed his bruise.

"Why did you have to be so rough with Berry?!" Brody shouted back.

"It's a match, you expect me to go easy on my opponents?" Grant countered.

"Yes!" Brody shouted once more.

Before anyone could stop them, Grant threw in a punch to Brody's face, who retaliated by kicking Grant in his side. The Grovyle then started using his attacks just as Brody did the same.

"Aren't you going to stop them?" Berry asked Vesper.

"They do this a lot, it's best to let them get it out of their system," Vesper sighed. "I'll have berries on standby though…"

As Grant and Brody were going at it, Berry decided to slither off towards Dust, Cliff, and Al. "Perhaps we should go ahead and get some breakfast since we're already up."

"You had me at breakfast!" Al cheered. "Now we best hurry before those two finish with their fight."

"Wouldn't you want your teammates to join you though?" Berry asked.

"Don't worry, plus, their fights usually take a while, and I rather eat than wait for them to finish. So let's get going already," Al had started to leave the dojo while everyone else was still watching Grant and Brody duke it out with one another.

"Uh, Dust… could you carry me while carrying Cliff?" Berry asked, looking at Dust and Cliff.

Dust looked at Berry, then at Cliff before giving a sigh. "Sure, it's a good thing the Cafeteria isn't too far."

Berry slithered up onto Dust's back, coming up behind Cliff, who was smiling when she saw her 'mommy' with her. Dust took a couple of deep breaths, already feeling the combined weight of the two taking its toll on his back. With that he started moving forward, leaving the dojo and heading towards the cafeteria. Even though Berry was on his back, Dust was able to move faster than when it was just him and Cliff. This is because he knew that with Berry on his back, she would at least make sure Cliff wouldn't accidentally fall off.

Despite it being a short distance to the cafeteria, Dust was already breathing heavily, though he was glad that they had finally reached their destination.

"If this keeps up, I might just consider carrying Cliff as my training," Dust panted.

"Maybe we should teach Cliff how to walk as soon as possible, so you won't have to keep carrying both of us around," Berry said in concern, seeing how tired her partner was.

Dust was walking towards the serveline, where Al currently was, and was talking to a certain Milcery.

"I'm telling you, Grant and Brody made sure to talk with Dust and Berry. They are okay with watching over me, promise! Cross my heart and hope to die!" Al said as he made the gesture of making an x mark on his chest, hoping to convince Cupcake.

Dust, Berry, and Cliff were right behind Al as he was saying this. Dust and Berry blinked, wondering why Al was trying to convince Cupcake that they were watching him, it wasn't like he was a child.

Cupcake, noticing them behind Al, sighed. "Alright. Just get your food and make sure you sit with Team Night Tide."

"Yes ma'am!" Al saluted the Milcery as she left. Al turned around and nearly jumped at seeing Dust and Berry. "Geez! Didn't see you there...So...um...How long have been standing there?"

"... Long enough to know you apparently need us to watch you," Berry answered before she slithered off of Dust's back to give him a break. "Why would you need us to watch you?"

"Oh, you don't really need to watch me… Actually…" Al paused for a moment, trying to figure out how to explain properly to them, that is until his stomach started rumbling. "How about we get some food first, and then I'll fully explain myself."

"Oh please do," Dust replied.

With that the group had gotten their food, though Dust was surprised to see how much food Al had gotten. His plate was filled with berries and gummies, he saw some meat in there too, but almost all of it were stacked on top of each other, making it difficult to exactly tell what kind of food he was eating. As soon as they found a suitable table, Al didn't waste any time eating, taking huge bites out of berries, gummies, and any type of meat he had.

Berry had seen Dust eat meat before, though he always kept it sort of subtle and hidden within his berries and gummies. But Al was just munching down on all the meat without a care in the world. Berry could still see the full body grilled Finneon on Al's plate before he dug his claws into and ripped it apart with his teeth. Berry couldn't help but shiver.

"I don't get how carnivores are able to eat other Pokemon just fine like that, even if they are wild, they have the ability to be civilized," Berry muttered, mostly to Dust.

Dust and Berry did give a bowl of dirt and mashed berries for Cliff, Cupcake had everything for every species of Pokemon after all. Cliff was enjoying her own breakfast to care about what Al was eating.

Al paused from his eating, seeing Cliff's unique meal. "Hey, um… Sorry, what was her name?"

"Cliff," Dust answered, curious as to what Al wanted with Cliff.

"Thanks. Hey Cliff, how does that taste?" Al asked while pointing at Cliff's food.

Cliff blinked before smiling, thinking Al wanted to try some of her food. She had a stubby armful of the soil and berries and held it out to Al. "Eat?"

"She's still a newborn, so she doesn't quite understand our language yet," Berry explained to Al.

Al just shrugged as he took the dirt and berry, putting it in his mouth. Dust couldn't believe he just ate dirt, sure he did yesterday but that was by accident, Al willingly put dirt in his mouth. After a couple seconds of chewing, Al swallowed, letting out a satisfied sigh.

"Not bad, little earthy, but not bad in the end. Could use some meat though, now that would make it taste a lot better," Al said just as he took a bite out of another piece of meat.

Berry blanched at the meat of some poor Pokemon that Al just took a bite out of, completely grossed out, she would rather eat the soil that Cliff was eating than the meat Al was devouring. _I hope Cliff's species aren't carnivores too… We didn't get that list from Carrie due to Grant draggins us out before dawn._

"So, Al," Dust spoke up. "Why were you telling Cupcake about us needing to keep an eye on you?"

Al almost choked on the food in his mouth, but after a couple seconds managed to swallow it. "Was kinda hoping you'd forgotten. Oh well. So like I was saying, it's not that you really _need_ to watch me, but more as you really can't."

"What do you mean?" Dust asked while tilting his head.

"Well, only Grant and Brody are the only ones who are charged with accompanying me," Al explained before popping an Oran Berry in his mouth. "They're the only ones who could handle me."

"Uh… okay," Berry spoke up, looking confused. "But that doesn't really explain _why_ you need Pokemon to 'handle' you. Do you lose control of yourself from time to time or something?"

"Something like that. Tell me, do you know why my team is called Team Destruct?" Both Dust and Berry shook their heads, prompting Al to continue. "As I'm sure you've seen before, both Brody and Grant are very strong and on their own they can cause quite the mess. But honestly, you can say that I'm the reason we are called that. You were pretty spot on, Berry. It's not that I lose control of myself, but more as I really don't know how to exactly control my own strength."

"You… don't know how to control your own strength?" Berry blinked. "Why not?"

"Were you born with too much power for your mind to be able to handle?" Dust asked, coming up with his own theories.

Al shrugged. "Maybe, maybe not. I honestly don't know. You see, I really don't know anything about my life. How strong I am exactly, why I'm like that, or even how I got here in the first place."

"You don't… know anything about your life?" Berry repeated, looking surprised. "Do you have amnesia?"

"Bingo," Al answered while pointing a claw at Berry.

"But how?" Dust asked. Al gave him a funny look as Dust realized what his question meant to him. "Right, you wouldn't really know how."

"Does that mean your real name isn't actually 'Al' either?" Berry questioned. "Was that name something that Brody and Grant gave you?"

Al shook his head. "They weren't the ones who gave me that name. In fact, they weren't the first ones I met when I woke up with no memory of who I was. It was another guild member named Hammer who found me and brought me back to the guild. You can imagine everyones' surprise when we found out that I had amnesia. Hammer and Chihiro did the best they could to help me recover my memory, but no luck. And it was Hammer that gave me my name… Unless it's actually my name, then I guess he was really good at guessing."

"Who's Hammer? We've been at this guild for over a month now, and we've never met with anyone by that name," Dust asked curiously.

"Oh right, he has been gone for a while now, so it makes sense you two haven't heard of him," Al noted. "He's a Kommo-o and he's the leader of Team Dragon Knights."

"Team Dragon Knights?!" Dust almost choked on his food after hearing that name.

"Oh, so you have heard of them?" Al asked.

"Well not the members themselves, but the team name, yes," Dust nodded. "When your own mother is a Master Rank herself, you tend to hear other names pop up from time to time. Team Dragon Knights are Master Rank themselves, their whole team being made up of Dragons."

"Whoa! Really?" Berry's eyes sparkled when she heard that. Her and her family lived in a remote swamp, so any news about Crusaders and Dragon types were usually the stuff of legends. "A Master Rank Crusader team made up of Dragons? That sounds like a real legend!"

Al nodded. "Yup, though I've only met two of the members. You'd be surprised how busy Master Ranks could be. I didn't know your mother was also a Master Rank. From what I know, most high ranks, especially Master Ranks, don't tend to stay at their guilds for long, they usually travel the world for their long term missions, since so many Pokemon are always in need of help and can't always afford to write out their help on a guild's board."

"It's true," Dust agreed. "I remember times when my mother would be gone for quite some time. It was only until she finally became a member of the Guild council that she stayed home more often."

"Guild council? What's your mother's name?" Al asked.

"Eclipse," Dust answered.

"Woah, now that is a legendary name," Al shockingly replied. "You're the son of Eclipse?!"

Berry was blinking, seeming to try to process what was being said. Cliff didn't give any indication of understanding the conversation, she was just enjoying her meal.

"Wait! Back up a bit," Berry spoke up. "Dust… you're saying your mother is a _Master Rank _Crusader!? And not only that, but she's a member of the Guild Council?! Is all that true?"

"Yes, all of it is true. Didn't I mention this before?" Dust asked.

"No! No you didn't! I had no idea!" Berry answered, looking quite shocked. "Why didn't you ever tell me you were related to someone so legendary?"

Dust thought for a sec before replying. "Didn't see any reason. Last time my mother's rank was brought up was my first time meeting Chihiro. I thought I could've used my relationship to my mother as a way to grant me a higher rank. But, and I quote, 'you're not ranked by who you're connected or related to, young Absol, you're ranked by your skills and how you've completed your missions.' After hearing Chihiro say that, I didn't see any other reason to really bring up my mother's rank."

"Wiser words have never been said," Al laughed. "You should be judged by your own skills after all."

"Still… I can't believe I never knew you were related to a Master Rank member! Let alone someone from the Guild Council!" Berry said, lifting up her antennae as a way to show how surprised and shocked she was.

Dust shrugged. "As impressive as it sounds, being related to a Master Rank isn't that special. Granted, I was allowed to get away with a lot of my past experiments and research because of who my mother was. But can you really blame me? Growing up I was either in the care of another guild member until I was old enough to stay by myself. Like I mentioned before, there were times when I wouldn't see my mother for weeks, sometimes months. And I had to occupy my time somehow, which I guess is how I've gained my love for research and knowledge. So in the end, it all works out."

Berry frowned a little as she realized what Dust was implying. "You… weren't able to spend a lot of time with your mother, were you?"

Although Berry often felt alienated from her family due to how different she was from them, she at least knew her mother loved her unconditionally. Her mother was perhaps the only one she knew who loved her despite her differences, she couldn't imagine how she would've turned out if it weren't for Damp's love, nor did she want to.

Dust shrugged once more. "Understandable though, being a Master Rank requires lots of responsibilities."

"What about your father? You never mentioned him," Berry brought up before remembering a comment Dust once said to the young Budew they had saved a while back. "Oh… you don't know your father, do you?"

"Nope, sadly, like you, I've never met my biological father either, and my mother never talked about him," Dust sighed before shaking his head. "But it seems as though we've gotten off track, Al, you were telling us about your amnesia?"

"Right," Al nodded. "Now where was I?"

"You mentioned Hammer," Dust reminded the Charmeleon.

"Yeah, thanks. So like I was saying, Hammer and Chihiro tried everything to help me remember but no luck. Since then I've always gone by Al." Al explained.

"Okay, but that still doesn't explain why Brody and Grant have to be the ones to watch over you," Dust noted.

"Well funny story, Chihiro thought it would be a great idea to have me, Brody and Grant as a team. She figured that they would at least take care of me and make sure I was safe. What none of us counted on was how destructive I could be. Oh you should've seen the docks, was not expecting that much fire. And well everytime I'm on my own, things just happened to kinda go… chaotic. Kinda like that game of tag. Was the first time I actually played, though I didn't know we weren't supposed to use attacks, I honestly thought that's how the game was meant to be played." Al laughed at recalling that fun chaotic game.

Berry didn't look as amused recalling how chaotic a simple game of tag became, though she did have to admit it did have quite a charm when Chihiro got involved with it. "It was my first time playing tag too. I mean I knew about the game since I've seen other kids playing it before, but it was my first time actually participating in it. It was definitely one to remember."

Then the Goomy became a little more somber. "But… it really is sad that you don't remember your life or who you were before. You might have some friends and family who really miss you and wonder where you are."

Al didn't seem to be bothered by the thought. "Maybe, but it's been a while now, and no one has recognized me so far, and there still hasn't been any luck in recalling any past memories either. And I get it, it's one thing to lose a memory, but another to completely lose your identity. Because I don't know who I am, or what I lost, I can't really feel sad about not knowing anything. What's even more strange, I don't know why, but my body always felt… I don't know…Um… relieved."

Dust had been listening intently the whole time. "Fascinating, now I just wished I've read more books about the Pokemon mind. I've glossed a few times before, but never took the chance to really study it. Perhaps your body had dealt with lots of stress in the past, and now having no memories has given your body a break, so to speak."

"That does seem to be the case," Berry agreed. "I may not know much about memory losses, but I have actually gotten a chance to study and observe how Pokemon's minds worked. I had a lot of… free time to do so back home. The fact your body feels relieved already tells us you were likely strained a lot, both physically and emotionally."

"Huh, haven't thought of it that way. Neat," Al nonchalantly said. "Well, I'm sure in time my memories will come back, but I'm in no rush to get them. I'm pretty happy with the way things are now."

Berry frowned a little. _I wonder if maybe those memories are best forgotten if you were always so strained before… and perhaps the reason why you don't remember anything now is because there's nothing here to trigger those lost memories…_

The Goomy decided not to voice out these thoughts, however, she wasn't sure if she wanted Al to remember his past life or not. It was sad he didn't remember who he was or those he once cherished, but at the same time, she wondered how hard his life was and if it might be better if it was left forgotten.

"Well, I hope that answers your questions," Al stated. "That's why Brody and Grant have to always be with me, never know when I might accidently break something. But gotta say, thanks for sticking around. It's not that I mind my teammates, I always enjoy training with Grant and Brody's cooking, but there are times when I just want to explore on my own. Or in this case, eat all this food. Normally Brody doesn't allow me to get this much food, so this was the perfect opportunity to try some of the Cafeteria's dishes."

As Al said that, he grabbed what looked to be a piece of fried Wooper, sniffing it before taking a huge bite from it. Berry's eyes widened in shock and disgust when she saw Al eating the piece of a fried Wooper. Berry could tell it was one of her kind, or at least the kind she grew up with.

"Uuuugh… so, _so_ gross…" Berry groaned as she melted a little beside Dust.

Cliff blinked, wondering why her 'mommy' was suddenly melting.

Seeing Berry's reaction towards Al eating meat, Dust decided to bring up what happened yesterday. "I don't see why you are grossed out by meat. You didn't seem bothered with eating it last time."

"What are you talking about? I never ate meat before," Berry said, though she refused to think using Absorb on Splash was the same as 'eating' him. Absorb drains a Pokemon's energy, not consuming them.

"Ah yes, had a feeling you didn't notice. It was the stew you had yesterday, after you had finished it I noticed there were some chunks of beef in them. I wanted to mention it but after what had happened, how upset I made you and how we were having a good time again, I thought it would be best to wait until an appropriate time to tell you." Dust explained. "I did keep a close eye on you though, just in case you had any negative reaction from consuming meat, but so far your body seems to be doing fine...Unless something is wrong. Are you feeling alright? You're looking… a little different."

Berry was now looking pale, and she looked like she was going to throw up.

Al blinked. "What's wrong? Oh, maybe she didn't eat enough meat? Want some of mine?"

"Oh Mew no!" Berry quickly rejected, the top of her body looking a little green, and not the kind of green that was on the big circles on her body.

"Hey, don't knock it till you try it," Al remarked as he held out his fried piece of Wooper, moving it closer and closer to Berry for her to eat.

"No! I was raised by-!" Berry didn't get to finish her sentence, because Al shoved the piece of Wooper into her mouth, since her mouth was quite big, it was easy for the Charmeleon to stuff his whole claw in there.

"See, it's not so bad," Al smiled, not knowing how Berry was feeling.

Dust noticed Berry was looking a lot paler than usual, even when they were in the Phoenix Desert. "Uh-oh…"

* * *

**FoxyKhai0209****: DarkFoxKit:** Thank you, I'm glad someone knew the reference to Princess Day being in the Pokemon anime. I know it was a long time ago and in season 1, but it would seem not many people realized Princess Day was from the Pokemon anime, and a part of this world's lore, and not some made up holiday we created. ^^' But yeah, Princess Day is usually a day most males dread, not that I can blame them. I felt bad for Ash and Brock during that episode.

Hehe, the baby Larvitar was something we were discussing during the desert chapter. I thought it'd be cool if they could get a Larvitar, and we decided to go for an egg. It's also a good chance to show how Dust and Berry would react to having a baby Pokemon to take care of.

**Star Vigro****: Traveling Master: **Yup, by pure luck too. If he wasn't so curious about the "rock" he found, we'd never would have seen it later hatch into a Larvitar.

**DarkFoxKit:** Thank you for the well wishes. :)

**Star Libra****: Traveling Master: **Well, if you remember from the first time Blizza was introduced, she was disappointed at meeting Berry. She was really looking forward to having a rival, so seeing how Berry was in their first encounter had put a damper on things. Then there was the whole sparring match and how she lost and that put a pretty big dent on her pride. Now she wants to see Berry as a rival, but is frustrated by how much confidence Berry would be lacking from time to time.

As for Crimson, well every character has their background. While it doesn't excuse Crimson's actions, he does have his reasons. Respect comes with time, so maybe they will come to respect Dust and Berry, or maybe they will continue treating them how they've been doing so. You'll just have to wait and see.

**Cherry Smooch****: DarkFoxKit:** As of right now, there's planned to be 6 or so team members for Team Night Tide. We may have more in the future, but it's easier to work with less numbers than it is with more. If they have too many team members, we wouldn't be able to show them as characters very much, if at all, in the story.

**Rose Snowflake****: Dust: **A very interesting thought. An item that has the capability to alter a Pokemon's type? I can only think of the limitless possibilities.

**Traveling Master: **Why do you keep showing up?!

**Dust: **Hey, they brought up a very interesting subject, I just want to add my own thoughts.

**Traveling Master: *Sighs* **Just… behave yourself. Anyways, what Dust said is true, that is a very interesting idea and we've already been talking about it. Won't go into further details, but all I can say is thank you for the review. If you wish to share more about your thought, please message either me or DF.

**Dust: **Also, love the example you used, would wish to see an Eevee like that.

**Greatest Guy****: Chihiro:** Oooh, feel all Goomy inside, I'll have to remember that one~

**DarkFoxKit:** Ack! Chihiro! Stop popping up here!

**Chihiro:** Never! Whenever there's a pun, I Absol lutely need to be there!

**DarkFoxKit: *Groans*** … Anyways! Yes, we haven't forgotten about Shab the Feebas, he'll be coming back soon, don't worry. And for as smart as Dust is, he is pretty clueless when it comes to social cues, which makes it hilarious when he unintentionally insults someone and Berry has to quickly do damage control. Have fun with Animal Crossing.

**The Moonfox Collective****: DarkFoxKit:** Well it is fun to leave the readers hanging and wanting to see a new chapter soon. And yes, Otti did indeed know, and she loved the idea of Berry and Dust's surprised faces when they realized that 'rock' was no rock. XD Too bad Berry and Dust aren't in the same egg group, they are close, but not romantically so. As for the actual parent, let's just say Team Night Tide are likely to see that parent the next time they go back to Phoenix Desert. :3 And you really think a caring Goomy and a well intentioned Absol is going to let the Larvitar grow up like that? If anything, it might become a Tyranitar that is addicted to hugs. X3

Princess Day is not a made up holiday. It's actually based off of a real Holiday in Japan, and I am not going to spell it out here. ^^' Not only that, but Princess Day also comes from the first season of the Pokemon anime, we were basing it off of that. I guess I can see how it would look like a combination of Valentine's Day and Mother's Day, but no, the holiday had nothing to do with those, nor did those holidays crossed our minds. It was just something we wanted to put in after watching that episode in the anime again.

Heh, we love using the Pokedex entries to find out more how a Pokemon would act, especially in the wild. Civilized Pokemon can ignore some of these darker instincts though, or they may even take offense to being seen as such, like with the Cubone. Some of the Pokedex entries may not even apply to some of the civilized Pokemon because of their human-like intelligence. But we'll have to see with Berry later down the road.

I'm glad you're enjoying the story so far. We look forward to seeing your theories and whatnot.

**ArcherAmpharos****: Traveling Master: **Truth be told, when this story was in the planning stages, before we even had started writing, the plan was for Team Night Tide to only have 4 teammates. But as we continue to write, new ideas and inspiration always come up, things change, and we adapt to the story.

As for Princes Day, as DF had answered before, it was used in an episode on Pokemon, and it was actually based off a real Holiday in Japan. Honestly I didn't know about it either. DF was the one who told me about it.

Also, concerning the whole Pokemon eating other Pokemon, thank you for understanding. It was a interesting idea when we first talked about it, and it took us some time trying to figure out the best way to incorporate it into the story. We do have other plans related to this topic, but that would involve spoilers.

**DarkFoxKit:** I will say that you should remember that Pokemon themselves are living creatures that have different diets just like real life animals do. Some of them are carnivores and need to eat meat. It's a part of nature after all. So in Mystery Dungeon, it's far more likely for Pokemon to eat each other than it would be in the main games, where humans can just feed them Pokefood that would have all the nutrients they would need, or be preserved as energy in a Poke Ball that likely keeps them from getting hungry. But that's just my opinion on the matter.

**Traveling Master: **Heh, and Dust was sure surprised. Just as surprised as you and all the other readers when they found out the "rock" was actually an egg. We have big plans for the Larvitar, ones we hope you and the others will enjoy.

**Jewel moonstone****: Dust: **You think I want to be a dad?! You think I was expecting to be a dad?! I'm too young to be a dad!

**DarkFoxKit:** I'm actually surprised nobody knew that 'rock' was actually an 'egg'. I thought we described it well enough for readers to suspect that the 'rock' may not have been a rock, but I guess not. ^^'

**lonelyboi69****: DarkFoxKit:** Temporary parents as they would tell you. XP As for if Berry will find out about her parents anytime soon… uh… not really soon, but not super late, at least for one of them anyways. Hope you can survive your suspense until then. XP

**Guest #1****: Traveling Master: *Reads review* **Vegetarian Bellsprout? DF, you ever heard of this before? Cause this is the first time I've heard of this.

**DarkFoxKit:** I don't recall the Vegetarian Bellsprout on the S.S Anne, but I do remember the chef was naming out random dishes. But considering how there are Grass type Pokemon, as well as literal food Pokemon, I'd imagine not even the vegetarian option is safe from being completely Pokemon free, as Berry noted earlier while in the Sweet Apple Restaurant. XD

Seems most people didn't realize that 'rock' was an egg. I was surprised nobody suspected that, but that made the twist of the 'rock' suddenly hatching all the more shocking then. XD

**Lillypad Glow****: Traveling Master: **Heh, yup, Dust and Berry are now temporary parents. And while it will take time for them to get the hang of raising a child, I'm sure with time they will get used to being "parents."

**Star Scorpio****: DarkFoxKit:** You'll see what they'll do with the baby Larvitar. And don't worry, Cliff isn't usually very naughty. Though she can get to be a bit of a handful at times.

**Guest #2: Traveling Master: **I'm sure the two Ponyta would never stop reminding Dust about it if they ever found out. Sunny would definitely find it hilarious seeing Dust pull a cart with a funny looking hat.


	21. Chapter 21: The Invitation

**DarkFoxKit: *Drops to the floor, sweating***

**Traveling Master: *Stops and turns around* **DF! Come on, that crazy chocoholic fish guy could be coming any second!

**DarkFoxKit:** We lost him a week ago, T.M… I'm tired because of how strenuous Pokemon Stadium for the Nintendo 64 could be, especially in Round 2 mode.

**Traveling Master: **Oh, that's right. You were telling me about how challenging it was. Something about how the Charmander was stupidly OP.

**DarkFoxKit:** Yeah, there was a Trainer in the Petit Cup mode, where you use unevolved Pokemon, except for Ditto and Farfetch'd apparently, and he had a Charmander that was really fast, knew Dig, which was as powerful as Earthquake in gen 1, Fire Blast, and Seismic Toss. Not only that, he also had a Clefairy that knew Thunderbolt, Ice Beam, Psychic, and Body Slam. That Clefairy nearly gave me an aneurysm… but! I did a smart! I predicted his Charmander's Dig when I was using Vulpix, switched out to Dratini when he dug a hole, and Thunder Wave his tail when he came out! He became a sitting fire lizard after that. MWUAHAHAHAHA!

**Traveling Master: **…... Sounds like you had a…fun time...

**DarkFoxKit:** WHO ELSE WANTS SOME!?

**Dust:** Hmm? T.M, is DF alright? She looks a little… enthusiastic?

**Traveling Master: *Runs past the Absol while shouting back to him* **Run Dust! DF is high on energy! RUUUUUN!

**Dust: **DF? Do you have any idea what he's talking about?

**DarkFoxKit: *Has Mimikyu star eyes*** An Absol?~ Time to use my Crystal Team~

**Dust: **Ahh, that's what he meant. ***Dust then turns around and runs after me while screaming* **TM, WAIT FOR ME!

**DarkFoxKit:** WAAAAAAAAAIT! There's no running from a Trainer Battle! Let me faint you fiiiiiirst!

* * *

**Chapter 21: The Invitation**

Grant and Brody were exhausted. They had just finished battling each other.

"Are you two finally done?" Vesper asked.

"Yeah… I think Grant learned his lesson," Brody replied.

"Speak for yourself, you just went off the deep end over nothing," Grant grumbled.

Vesper tossed them both two Oran Berries. "Well eat up and go find Al."

"What?" They both said at the same time.

Vesper sighed. "While you two were busy fighting, Al had already left."

Brody and Grant's eyes open with shock as they look around the dojo, seeing no sign of the Charmeleon. Growling, they both pointed at each other while shouting, "This is all your fault! My fault?! You're the one who's supposed to watch him!"

And with that the two had begun fighting once more, only for Vesper to use Air Slash on both of them, knocking them against the walls.

"You two already spend enough time fighting, now go look for Al before he causes a mess!" Vesper shouted.

"Yes ma'am!" Both Brody and Grant quickly said before they hurried out of the dojo to find the Charmeleon.

"Oh! Last I heard he was going to the cafeteria!" Vesper called out to them.

* * *

Al decided to hang out in the cafeteria after Dust and Cupcake had to help clean up the mess he made, as in the mess he got Berry to make after he stuffed the fried Wooper part into her mouth. Cupcake pretty much gave Al the death glare until he promised he would stay until Brody and Grant came to pick him up.

Dust was currently carrying a very sick Goomy on his back, with a concerned baby Larvitar rubbing Berry's back a little. Instinctively, Cliff knew Berry wasn't feeling very good, and wanted to try to comfort her, but she didn't know why Berry didn't feel good.

"Daddy, is mommy sick?" Cliff asked.

"Yes, but not to worry, it's just an upset stomach," Dust knew it was more than that, but decided that it would be best to say it was only stomach problems to Cliff. "She'll just need some time to recover, then she'll be better."

"Okay… hope mommy feels better soon…" Cliff said.

Berry groaned a little. "Sorry… for the mess… in the cafeteria…"

"No need to apologize," Dust replied. "Your reaction was completely understandable, while I may also eat meat, I too would feel uncomfortable if I was eating meat that came from an Absol."

"Let's just… get to our room… I need some… Berry Juice for this…" Berry grumbled.

Dust nodded, picking up the pace a little, despite the extra weight from carrying Cliff. Soon they reached their room, Dust walked by Berry's bed for Cliff to hop off, and for Berry to slither down into. He gave a breath of relief from the extra weight, but then went to collect some Berry Juice. After acquiring some, he turned and held it for Berry.

"Do you want me to hold it for you, or would you prefer to have the Berry juice on your own?" Dust asked.

Berry took the small coconut cup with the Berry Juice inside with her antennae. "I can drink it on my own… thanks."

Berry began to sip up the Berry Juice. While Berry was drinking, Dust remembered the TMs he had bought from the Kecleon shop the other day, and that he hadn't used them yet.

"So this morning may have been a rough start, what with your match with Grant and the whole food incident, but I think I may have something to cheer you up," Dust cheerfully said.

Berry gave Dust a wary look. The Absol only chuckled, seeing that expression many times before.

"Not to worry, I promise you'll like it… Or I think you would, just give me one second to get them," Dust replied before going to his bag, taking out the contents from inside. "I know they're in here, I haven't taken them out since… Ah ha! Here they are!"

Dust grabbed two discs from his bag, one had a silvery shine to it, while the other had a purple glow. He handed the purple disc to Berry for her to examine.

Berry blinked as she looked at the disc. "This is… a Technical Machine?"

"Correct, I purchased these TMs two days ago, cost me about every Poke we had," Dust explained. "Was fortunate that Kecleon had given me that job to earn some of it back though."

Berry grumbled. "Right, you spent all our Poke on these things…"

Dust chuckled sheepishly, hoping that Berry wouldn't hold that against him all the time, especially since he wanted to cheer her up. "Well… nothing ventured, nothing gained, right? Anyways, that TM right there is Sludge Bomb. I recalled how much we struggled against that Snubbull, and Otti had suggested it would be best to learn moves to defend ourselves against Fairy types in the future since we both share a similar weakness to Fairy types."

"I… guess you have a point there. But… how do you know I could learn Sludge Bomb?" Berry asked.

"Call it a hunch, if you may, but after observing your battle style and history, I think it's safe to say that your kind are able to learn this move," Dust explained before giving a sheepish smile. "Plus that was the only Poison type move they had at the time. Worst case scenario, you are unable to learn the move and we'll just have to return it to the Kecleon."

"It might be wise to keep it even if I can't learn it just in case we recruit a team member who can," Berry suggested. _Although it might be possible I can learn it… I mean my slime is already toxic, might as well put that to good use._

Berry finished sipping her Berry Juice. Cliff was sleepily watching while leaning against Berry's body, likely finding it comfortable instead of gross like most Pokemon. Berry looked at Cliff for a moment.

"Make sure she eats a Pecha Berry," Berry said to Dust. "The last thing I want to do is poison this little baby."

Dust nodded. "I'll make sure she eats some when she wakes up. For now, go ahead, try learning the move."

Berry frowned a little. "Um… Dust… I grew up in a rural place… I don't know how to use a TM."

"Right, my mistake. Hmm, how best to explain TMs?" Dust asked himself as he thought over his question, before coming up with an idea. "So I've done some research on TMs in the past, but you see, TMs are something that's been a mystery for everyone for a long time. Perhaps the humans had the secrets behind TMs, but seeing as they are no longer here, there's been hardly any known research about them. But I do recall reading a book called _The Electric Tale of Pikachu_, depicted a human using some strange, box-like device having these 'headphones' attached to the Pokemon itself. But after reading it, I found it seemed too complicated and confusing for one to use a TM. On the contrary, it's actually very simple, just place it on your forehead and hold until the information is transferred to your mind."

"Really? It's that simple?" Berry asked, sounding a little unsure.

"I know, I didn't believe it myself when my mother tried explaining it to me the first time," Dust noted. "It's what led me to try researching TMs myself, but not much luck. If the disc doesn't dissolve after a few seconds of holding it against your head, then that usually means you can't learn the move."

"Okay," Berry said before she picked up the disc with her antennae, or tried to.

The Goomy couldn't quite get a good grip on the sleek disc, and it kept slipping out of her antennae. Berry grumbled in annoyance. "Clearly it wasn't designed for all Pokemon to be able to use on themselves!"

"Right, I supposed others would need some assistance. Here, I can hold it for you," Dust offered as he grabbed the disc and held it against Berry's forehead. "Again, should only take a couple seconds, you might feel a slight tingle since this is your first time."

Berry braced herself as Dust held the disc on her head. After 2 seconds went by, Berry began to wonder if maybe she couldn't learn Sludge Bomb, but then suddenly, she had an image in her head on how to use the move. She felt like she used the move several times before. She just knew how to do it like it was normal. Then suddenly the disc crumbled into dust.

"Wonderful!" Dust exclaimed. "Was starting to have doubts myself, but in the end, you learned Sludge Bomb!"

Berry blinked, and blinked again. "Whoa… that was so weird. I know I never used Sludge Bomb before, yet I feel like I've used it my entire life somehow."

"Correct you are, that's how I felt when I first learned Ice Beam," Dust agreed. "Though I suggest at least practicing with the move first, I've made that mistake of using a move right after learning it before. While your mind knows how to use the move, your body has no experience with it. I ended up freezing a good chunk of the guild when I first used my Ice Beam."

Berry sweatdropped. "That's… good to know then… I guess maybe we should try training at the Dojo for a bit since we won't be going out on missions today."

"Agreed. Just give me one second to learn my move," Dust then grabbed the silver disc and held it against his forehead. After a few seconds the TM dissolved into nothing. "And done. I look forward to testing out this move now."

Berry looked over at the Larvitar that was still leaning on her body. "What should we do with Cliff in the meantime?"

"Hmm… I doubt she would stay asleep for long," Dust recalled how Cliff had woken up to climb on his bed to sleep with him. "We could always leave her with Carrie, she did offer to watch over her if we were busy. Or maybe we can just take her with us to the Dojo."

"Might be best to take her with us. I don't think Cliff would be too happy to wake up and not see us anywhere," Berry stated.

Then there was a knock on their door.

"Are you expecting someone?" Dust asked, for which Berry shook her head. "Hmm, maybe it's Carrie wanting to check on Cliff."

Dust went to the door, expecting to see Carrie on the other side. But when he opened it, he was greeted with green Dragon Pokemon that was wearing a satchel across its shoulders, a light blue scarf around the neck and a type of brown hat on top of its head. Seeing that the door was opened, the Flygon took off its hat before greeting Dust.

"Hello, by chance are you Dust Absol?" The Flygon asked.

Dust didn't reply at first, still shocked to be seeing a fully evolved desert dragon standing before him. He realized he had been staring for a couple seconds. "Sorry about that. Uh… Yes, I'm Dust… Can I help you?"

"You can call me Gale, I am a mailmon of the Unity Guild. You probably haven't had a chance to see me much though since I spend a lot of time at the Post Office, delivering tons of mails and packages to Pokemon in the region," Gale introduced.

"A Flygon working as a mailmon? I thought only Pelliper handles those jobs?" Dust asked.

Gale chuckled a bit at the questions. "Well when the Post Office was first made, it was only Pelliper that handled deliveries. But as time passed on, they realized that there were other Pokemon who were more suited for delivering mail and packages in certain areas. I'm usually in charge of going across the desert to deliver any mail needed over there."

Dust was amazed, he never thought that the Post office would have a Flygon as a mailmon. It made him wonder what kind of other Pokemon they had working there. But then a thought crossed his mind.

_Gale… Where have I heard that name before? _Dust thought to himself, not realizing he had been staring at the Flygon in silence again.

Gale cleared his throat, getting Dust's attention. "I should apologize. It's easy for me to forget the newer members of Unity Guild aren't used to seeing fully evolved Dragon types. I came to deliver an envelope that was addressed to you, well, Team Night Tide specifically."

Berry was looking over, surprised to see a fully evolved Dragon at the guild herself other than Chihiro. She was always in awe whenever she saw a fully evolved Dragon Pokemon. Dust looked back at Berry for a moment, and seeing Cliff still sleeping beside her. That was when Dust remembered where he had heard Gale's name before.

"Wait! That's right, you're Gale!" Dust exclaimed.

"Uh…yeah… I just introduced myself only a minute a go," Gale wasn't sure if Dust was trying to be funny or not.

"No, not that!" Dust shook his head. "You're the one that shiny Trapinch told us about. What was her name again? Jullie? No… Jasper?... No. I know it started with a J…"

"You guys met Jade?" Gale asked, shocked as soon as Dust had mentioned a shiny Trapinch. "She was the only shiny Trapinch I've met in my life."

"Yeah, her!" Dust smiled. "She told us you were the one who taught her how to be civilized. I was shocked that she could speak our language so fluently."

"Ah yes," Gale gave a look of reminiscing. "That was quite a few years ago. I was a Vibrava back then, I was a part of Team Dragon Knights at the time. I was on a solo mission, and I found an unconscious shiny Trapinch. I took her with me in hopes of healing her. She became curious about me and my language and 'strange way of living'. I studied the ancient wild Pokemon language before I met her, so I was able to understand a little bit of what she was saying to me. I decided to teach her our culture and language. I guess a part of me was hoping she'd join the team, it would've been nice to have a fellow Vibrava on the team. But despite how quickly she was able to learn… I had to take her back to her home. Some… things happened, and… I couldn't let Jade stay, so… we hadn't seen each other since."

"That does explain how she was able to speak so clearly. Though that didn't really do us much favor when we first met her," Dust slightly chuckled. "She wouldn't let us pass unless we could've defeated her in battle. She said that in the wild, only the strong respect the strong, or something like that."

Gale gave a hearty laugh. "Yup, that does sound like her. Wild Pokemon live simple yet brutal lives."

"On another important note, you were part of the Dragon Knights?!" Dust asked loudly. "I was impressed when Al had shared with us his meeting of Hammer, but I never expected to meet a former member within the same day!"

Gale took a step closer, examining Dust. "Hmm, mismatched eyes, very energetic...You're Eclipse's kid, aren't you?"

Dust was speechless. Besides Chihiro, Carrie, and now Berry, he wasn't expecting anyone else outside his old guild to know about him and his mother.

"You're probably wondering how I know," Gale chuckled a bit. "My team had the opportunity to work with your mother at one time. Though we had just become Master Rank, she was only there to view our skills. She'd mentioned her son to us, but never thought I would meet a fellow guild member who was also the son of Eclipse."

"My mother had only mentioned the Dragon Knights being Master Rank, but she never told me she actually met with your team," Dust noted. "Amazing how small the world can be sometimes."

"Ain't that the truth," Gale smiled before remembering why he was there in the first place. "Right, looks like we all got a little distracted, I still have a letter to deliver to you two."

Gale then reached inside his satchel and pulled out an envelope. While the envelope was as simple as could be, the seal itself caught Dust's attention. The red wax seal had an intricate design, it looked somewhat like a building of some sort. If Dust had to guess, it looked similar to a mansion. He used his claw to open the envelope to see some kind of letter and a map leading somewhere inside.

Dust decided to read the letter out loud so Berry could hear it too. "'Greetings, Dust Absol, we formally invite you and your team to the Strange Mansion. We included a map that will lead you to the Strange Mansion. Reputation of you and your team has reached our ears and we would love to meet with you and your teammates. Note that we are nocturnal Pokemon, so you will have to come around 8 PM to 4AM. That is the time window to when we will be awake to greet you. We look forward to meeting with Team Night Tide~'"

Dust read the invitation once more, a bit confused from the first time. "Strange Mansion? Gale, have you heard of a place like that?"

"I haven't been there myself, but I think it was an old mansion that humans used to live in. Some Pokemon must've gotten together to reconstruct it," Gale answered.

"Humans, you say?" Dust was interested the moment Gale had mentioned humans. "Well I think it would be rude not to go, especially after receiving such a formal invitation."

"Are you planning to go tonight then?" Gale asked. "Remember, they said they are nocturnal, so if you want to go, you should go close to 8 PM."

"Perhaps we should wait until tomorrow night," Berry spoke up, which surprised Gale as he didn't notice the Goomy or Larvitar. "We should at least spend one full day with Cliff before we go darting off somewhere in the middle of the night."

"Right, and we still have the new moves we had just learned, we can spend our time training before going," Dust agreed.

"Then I wish you the best of luck," Gale said before he gave a small bow to Berry. "I hope you do well, young Dragon."

Before Berry could even react, Gale flew away. "What!?"

Cliff woke up from Berry's reaction, giving a big yawn. "Mommy?"

"Ah, s-sorry, Cliff, did I wake you?" Berry asked, trying not to freak out in front of the baby Larvitar.

"Is Mommy better now?" Cliff asked before yawning once more.

"Yes, Mommy is better now, she was just surprised by something," Berry answered before she looked at Dust. "Why would that Flygon call me a Dragon type? Surely he would be able to tell I'm not a Dragon type, right?"

Dust had to think hard for a moment. Part of him wanted to bring up the whole Dragon Type once more, but lately he's been pushing it aside, recalling Otti's advice. "... Don't know, maybe... next time we see him you can ask him yourself?"

Berry sighed a little, looking doubtful. "... Yeah… I guess."

Cliff gave a curious look to Berry and Dust. Berry looked back at Cliff for a moment.

"Hey… want to meet with some new friends?" Berry asked.

* * *

Chihiro was grinning as she watched Phantom and Spooks looking at the newborn Larvitar with curiosity.

"You actually hatched a child," Spooks said in almost disbelief.

"And you said you and Dust wouldn't be compatible~" Phantom smirked.

"What did you just say?" Dust wasn't sure if he heard the Dreepy correctly.

Berry was blushing and she groaned. "I didn't lay the Larvitar's egg, alright!? Dust just found her egg and brought it home thinking it was a rock!"

Dust wasn't quite sure what they were talking about, something he might bring up later. "Right, as Berry said, I came across the egg."

"It always seems something interesting happens every week because of you two," Chihiro chuckled.

Dust nodded. "Especially on Fridays, some time between the afternoon and evening."

"What?" Spooks asked.

"Oh, nothing," Dust winked at the readers.

Cliff was looking at the two Dreepy curiously, she wasn't sure what to make of them. On the other hand, Phantom and Spooks were excited to meet a potential new friend.

"Hi!" Phantom greeted first. "I'm Phantom, and this is my brother Spooks."

"Hey!" Spooks smiled while waving.

"What's your name?" Phantom asked

Cliff blinked as she tilted her head.

"She hasn't quite learned how to talk much yet," Berry spoke up. "But her name is Cliff, she still hasn't gotten used to her name yet though."

"Don't worry, we'll be sure to help her improve on her speech whenever you decide to leave her in my or Carrie's care. Young Pokemon can learn how to speak rather quickly, especially if their eggs were laid in the wild, their brains naturally can absorb new information faster than normal hatched civilized Pokemon," Chirhio assured. "They also tend to mature faster due to having to fend for themselves in the wild if their parents believe their child should grow on their own. The Larvitar line is one such Pokemon to do that."

"Interesting, the wild Pokemon never cease to amaze me," Dust noted. "And if it's not too much trouble, we were hoping Cliff could stay with either you or Carrie tomorrow night. Gale had given us an invitation, and it said that the Pokemon were nocturnal."

"I see… It looks like you would be going on your first night mission then," Chihiro noted with interest. "An invitation, huh? That's rare, you must've gotten someone's attention. Those are usually classified as 'special missions'. Depending on the client, you could get a high amount of rank points once you complete the special mission."

Cliff looked at Phantom and Spooks as they flew around her, making her smile in excitement. She started to hop around, wanting to fly with them too. Dust couldn't help but smile at the scene, recalling how he too had dreamt of flying through the skies. But that was years ago, in time Cliff would come to understand that it would not be possible, but for now, Dust kept on smiling as he saw Cliff play along with Phantom and Spooks.

Drawing his attention back to what Chihiro had just said, Dust had a question that popped in his head. "High amount of rank points? Would you say enough to possibly raise our ranks to Gold?"

Chihiro laughed out loud before answering. "No, even special missions like these wouldn't have enough rank points to make a Normal Rank Crusader jump to Gold Rank, but I never tire of your optimism. But remember what I said before, the tournament matters more than the rank points in the Unity Guild, you only need enough to participate as your current rank. Depending on how well you do, you could potentially get a Gold Rank. It's extremely unusual and rarer than shiny Pokemon, but it is possible."

Dust chuckled a bit, already had a feeling that would be the case. "I figured, but thought I still ask, just in case."

"Either way, if I am unable to due to certain reasons, I'm sure Carrie would be able to watch over Cliff. But do make sure to ask her beforehand, you know how she can be when she's surprised," Chihiro suggested while chuckling a bit.

"We'll be sure to do that," Berry answered. "We just figured it would be nice for Cliff to meet with some new friends closer to her age first. See how well she gets along with them first."

"And I'm sure Chloe would love meeting Cliff as well," Chihiro agreed. "Is there anything else I can do for you two then?"

"Do you have that list Carrie mentioned on how to take care of a Larvitar?" Berry asked. "We never got it."

"Ah yes, Carrie had a feeling you two would come here," Chihiro said as she reached under her desk, grabbing a piece of paper. "And while a list does help, I'm sure it shouldn't take you two long to get used to being parents."

Dust frowned, he didn't have plans on being an actual parent, he felt he was far too young for that.

"I just hope we'll be able to raise Cliff alright," Berry said a little worriedly.

"Right," Dust awkwardly chuckled. "A child's youth are important for growing and learning. Again, thank you Chihiro for the list."

"Think nothing of it," Chihiro smiled. "Now why don't you two take your adorable Larvitar around the guild and town? Let her see the place she was born in, and maybe even let her enjoy the top of a cliff~"

Spooks laughed while Phantom just groaned. Dust and Berry said their goodbyes as they exited Chihiro's office, with Cliff and Berry riding on top of his back.

"Um, Dust, perhaps you should just let me slither beside you? I don't think this is very comfortable for you," Berry suggested, seeing how tired Dust looked.

Dust stopped, taking a moment to breath. "While I appreciate the offer, I think I would be doing more work if you slithered on your own. I'm not gonna leave you behind, not again. That means I would be carrying Cliff for a longer duration then I'd normally would while carrying you both."

"Uh… okay… perhaps we should take some Oran Berries with us, I rather you didn't tire yourself out before we even get to the Dojo," Berry said.

Dust nodded as he continued on. "That would be wise."

* * *

For the duration of the morning and afternoon, Dust went around the guild, showing Cliff the other rooms and sights. It was odd, because not that long ago, Phantom was showing them around the guild. They managed to get some Oran Berries from the gardener Bellossom to keep Dust energetic and healthy. They visited Shab, whom Kura showed was in one of the tanks for the fish Pokemon. Shab looked really happy to see Berry again, and Berry wondered if Shab had developed some kind of addiction to her goo somehow.

After they looked around the guild, Dust took them out to White Leaf Town. Their first stop was Carrie's warehouse, Dust and Berry wanted Cliff to meet with Chloe.

Upon seeing them arrive, Carrie couldn't help but smile at seeing Dust carrying both Berry and Cliff. "It's good to see you. Chloe has been waiting to meet Cliff the moment I told her about what happened. How is she doing so far?"

"She's been doing great so far. She seems to love the tour we've been giving her around the guild," Berry answered.

Carrie then noticed Dust and how he was heavily breathing. "And how are you doing, Dust?"

"Me? Oh, I'm doing… fine," Dust tireless said. "Say, can Cliff meet Chloe now? She had a great time meeting Spooks and Phantom and after we told her about Chloe, she was excited to meet her too."

"And Dust could use a break…" Berry said in concern.

"Sure thing. Chloe, there's a new friend for you to meet!" Carrie called.

The baby Kangaskhan ran up towards them from the back. "Really? Is it the Larvitar?"

Dust laid down to let Berry and Cliff slide off of him. He was relieved when the weight on his back was gone. Cliff gave Chloe a curious look. Berry gave Cliff a gentle push.

"Go on, say hello, Cliff," Berry encouraged.

Cliff was still a bit nervous, but she gave a little wave to Chloe. "...Hello."

"Hi! I'm Chloe! My mom told me about you and I've been wanting to meet you ever since!" Chloe cheerfully exclaimed. "Wanna play?!"

Cliff blinked, still looking a little shy. "Play…?"

"Yeah, you know, like have fun with each other." Chloe smiled. "You've met with Phantom and Spooks, right? They're great friends, but it can get unfair and annoying to play with them sometimes because they can fly and go through walls and stuff."

Cliff tilted her head, not quite understanding everything Chloe was saying, but she seemed to understand enough to nod her head. "Play with you… easier?"

Chloe nodded excitedly. "Exactly! Come, let's go play!"

Chloe then took Cliff's stubby arms and lead her into Carrie's store to show her inside and to also play. Cliff happily followed, starting to grow excited after meeting Chloe.

"She may have only hatched yesterday, but I can already see how far she's grown," Carrie acknowledged. "Did you two come here to get the list for Cliff?"

"No, we already had gotten it from Chihiro," Dust explained.

"That's good, glad I made an extra copy," Carrie noted. "But just letting you know, that is just a basic list to help care for Larvitar. Think of it as a guideline. You'll find as time goes on, children will require certain needs and you'll have to adjust how you've been raising them. But by then, I'm sure you two will have gotten used to caring for Cliff. As long as you are patient and continue to nurture them with love and care, they will grow into strong, healthy Pokemon."

"We'll try our best, Carrie," Berry promised. "I want Cliff to be able to grow up in a safe and friendly environment." _Maybe then she'll turn out less messed up than Dust and I are._

Dust looked at Berry, his mind buzzing with questions. "Berry, I noticed ever since Cliff has hatched, you hardly seemed bothered by being called Mommy by her, and you've shown much maturity compared to when Cliff wasn't here before. When we first met I figured we were at least the same age, but now I wonder, how old are you exactly? Have you had experience with children before?"

Berry blinked before shaking her head. "Other than taking care of Spooks, Phantom, and Chloe, not at all. And I'm 16 years old."

"16?!" Dust was taken back. "Sorry, I just thought you were at least my age, or a lot older, considering how mature you act."

Berry tilted her head before frowning. "Did you think I was an adult or something? Besides, Cliff imprinted on us, it's only natural she would think of us as 'mommy' and 'daddy'. I wasn't going to deny her that."

"But I'm only 18!" Dust exclaimed.

"Will you relax? Think of this like a… a school project. We're assigned together to take care of a child until they mature. So don't worry, you're not an actual father or anything, you're just standing in as one for the baby currently," Berry suggested.

"Hmm, last time I was part of a school project, it involved growing plants. Though I tried coming up with a method to speed up the process… Which resulted in all the other plants being burned…" Dust reminisced over that memory. "But I see your point, a child does need parental figures to help them grow and learn. I just was overly shocked by your age and maturity, that's all."

Carrie gave Dust and Berry a curious look. "I do have to admit, for a 16 year old civilized Pokemon, you do seem pretty mature for your age. You're still technically a child by our society standards. It could just be how you grew up, but it is a little unusual. Civilized Pokemon usually don't fully mature until they reach 18. And even then they may not always be mature."

Carrie looked at the 18 year old Absol for a moment.

Berry sighed. "I just think it was how I grew up, everyone is different, so everyone could mature differently too."

"That's true too," Carrie chuckled. "I'll be sure to get some more soil and berries for Cliff to eat. Larvitar are supposed to eat mountains of soil when they're born, so we want to make sure Cliff doesn't get malnourished. The berries are there to help keep her body nice and healthy without needing to eat so much at a time."

"Fascinating," Dust noted. "Tell me, where did you learn all this stuff?"

"Perks of being a mother is that you tend to meet other mothers as they raise their children too," Carrie explained. "I met a Tyranitar once and she shared with me what she does in order to care for her child."

Despite Dust having spent most of his life reading books from a library, learning so much from reading and researching, Dust had now come to realize how little he actually knew. _Maybe after I gain Gold Rank and return home, I might do some more exploring instead of just staying in the library._

* * *

By the time Dust and Berry were able to show Cliff around White Leaf Town, the sun was already setting. Dust began to make his way back to the guild.

"Would you like to go to the Dojo or are you too tired after the tour to do any training?" Berry asked Dust.

Dust had wanted to do some training today to practice their new moves, but after carrying Cliff all day, he's body was too exhausted to do any sort of training. "Let's go tomorrow, I don't think my body could handle any training after carrying Cliff for a long time."

"Heh, yeah… I figured as much," The Goomy agreed. "Maybe we should teach Cliff how to walk a little tomorrow."

Cliff was leaning in on Berry's bed, already falling asleep. She was pretty tired after today as well.

"Makes me wonder how she climbed out and into my bed last night," Dust wondered, recalling what Cliff did the previous night.

"Maybe she crawled? Or she can at least stumble a little," Berry noted. "She did try to walk towards me yesterday at the cafetera."

"I'm sure she'll get the hang of walking on her own soon. Don't think carrying this much weight is good for my back," Dust chuckled a bit. "I'm just looking forward to finally using our new moves tomorrow. I'm sure they will help us a lot in the upcoming tournament."

"Yeah. I'll admit, I'm a bit nervous about the tournament," Berry said as Dust walked into their room. "I mean fighting wild Pokemon in dungeons is one thing, but to fight against other teams in front of other important Pokemon? That's nerve wracking."

"I know what you mean. I felt the same way when I had to fight Jade, then later Brody," Dust agreed, recalling how he felt during those times. "But I'm sure with enough training, we should be able to handle ourselves in the future. And hopefully our performance during the tournament might convince Chihiro to grant us Gold Rank."

Dust was happy to lay down on the bed while Berry nudged Cliff to wake her up a bit. Cliff rubbed her eyes before she slid down from Dust's back. Berry slithered down as well.

"Perhaps she can sleep with you again tonight? I don't think she likes to sleep on her own yet," Berry suggested as she looked at Dust. "And… I'm also a bit curious about something. Why do you want Gold Rank so much? I mean yeah it's a really good, alluring rank to have, especially early on in our Crusading career, but what's the hurry? I'm sure we'll get there eventually."

Dust was not expecting to be asked that. "Why, you ask. Hmm… It's so that I could return home."

Cliff stumbled over to Dust's side, and snuggled up into his fur.

"Return home?" Berry blinked. "What do you mean?"

"Well there's a reason why I'm here in the Unity Guild. It wasn't by choice, but more as a punishment," Dust explained, though feeling a bit uncomfortable with sharing. But he trusted Berry, and was fine with telling her. "Before, the only punishments I've ever received were from my mother, but I guess at some point the Guild itself couldn't handle me anymore. So I was essentially kicked out of my old guild, and the only way I could return is if I obtain a Gold Rank within a year. If I can't, I can never return. And while it's not a good excuse, it is the reason why I acted so poorly during our first mission. I was so focused on gaining Gold Rank that I ended up putting you in danger. I know it's been a little over a month since we've joined, but I still wish to return home."

"Oh, I see…" Berry frowned. "I… suppose you would rather go back to the Guild you came from since you didn't join the Unity Guild by choice. But… is that what you really want?"

Dust nodded, until he noticed Berry frowning. "Don't take it the wrong way, I actually appreciate my time here. I've learned quite a lot, more in fact compared to when I studied in the library. I was even thinking that when I returned home I would do more exploring, I'd even come visit Unity Guild from time to time. It's just… I grew up there, and suddenly it was taken all away. Can you imagine being forced to leave your home with a chance to never return?"

"I'm not sure if I _want _to return home, Dust," Berry sighed.

It was then Dust remembered that Berry left her home because she didn't want to live there anymore, and wanted to become a Crusader to be a Pokemon others could respect.

"From what you told me, you… didn't have a lot of friends at your old guild either, so… I don't know, I guess I was kind of hoping that maybe you'd prefer to stay here instead," Berry continued. "If you really want to go back to your old guild though, I won't stop you."

Dust felt actually bad for making Berry feel that way, so he tried to lighten the mood. "Don't forget, I still have to obtain Gold Rank first in order to go back. I only have a year, and as far as I know, only my mother has been able to achieve such a feat. And I'm nothing like her, so who knows what will happen in the future."

"Yeah…" Berry then gave a small smile. "Maybe you'll change your mind then."

Berry slithered over to the water pot before jumping into it. Even though Cliff preferred to sleep with Dust, Berry didn't want Cliff to sleep with her due to her toxic slime.

Dust had said nothing more, leaving him alone with his thoughts. He knew that he wanted to return home, that had always been his desire. But since mentioning why he was here in the first place, he felt conflicted. He'd only thought about himself, never thinking how it would affect Berry. He tried thinking of any possible solutions, some being where Berry could come with him, but his body was too exhausted for him to stay up any longer. He figured when it was time for him to finally return home, he would think of a perfect solution for them all.

* * *

**Greatest Guy****: DarkFoxKit:** Well, all jokes aside, nah, it's not cannibalism for Berry to eat berries, or other Wooper. XP

**Chihiro: *Is writing down the Cliff pun*** This is just gold material here~

**Jewel moonstone****: Traveling Master: **Honestly I don't think anyone is ever ready to be a dad. It happens when it happens. So I'm sure with time Dust will get used to Cliff calling him Daddy.

**DarkFoxKit:** Don't worry, Berry didn't go berserk on Al, though she definitely didn't appreciate it.

**FoxyKhai0209****: Traveling Master: **Yeah, they are always a fun, interesting group. Al likes to poke fun at Brody from time to time, even if it means getting a bruise from the Lucario. Fun little fact, Team Destruct was the first team I ever created, so their chemistry somehow works off each other.

**DarkFoxKit:** Berry can tell when a draconic Pokemon (Pokemon that are Dragon types, and Pokemon that aren't technically Dragon types, but have traits of them like Gyarados and Charizard) is male or female due to being a Dragon type herself. That was how she was able to tell the wild Goodra she encountered was female.

**Sapphire Flower****: DarkFoxKit:** Thank you, really happy to see you on board with this. :D

**Star Sagittarius****: Traveling Master: **Yup, and all because Dust didn't realize he had brought an egg when he thought it was a rock. Also, the reason why Grant and Brody fought is because Brody wasn't happy that Berry lost. Especially since it was due to his teammate, so similar to how he hit Al, Brody did the same to Grant. And Grant is always looking for a fight, and he can also be short tempered, so after getting hit by Brody, he retaliated and punched him back. Which caused the two to fight each other. You'd be surprised by how often this happens.

In fact, if Al wasn't on the team, Grant and Brody wouldn't really be working with each other, since the two tend to butt heads a lot. Al is kinda like the glue that holds the team together.

**Lunar Candy****: DarkFoxKit:** Don't worry, we definitely have plans for Shab to return, and he will return soon, after a few more story missions.

**Star Capricorn****: Traveling Master: **Had a feeling this question would be asked. So gonna just say this now, Al isn't, and wasn't a human. While the game normally does the whole, "Human turned Pokemon with no memory," in this story, Al just has amnesia. As for why he lost his memories, sorry, that is something you'll have to wait until later in the future. But I will give you this fun little fact. Al was actually my very first character I ever made, back when I first joined FanFiction. So it's nice to finally be able to show him to you all.

**The Moonfox Collective****: DarkFoxKit:** Ah, that's what you meant. Well, Tyranitar don't seem to be the type to just let their child grow up on their own, considering the anime. Tyranitar seems to obviously care for its young. Though it wouldn't surprise me if some Tyranitar rather have their child grow up on their own. It would be more interesting to have an angry parent going after Team Night Tide, thinking they stole their baby, which they kinda did to be fair.

**Dust: **Not my fault! I thought it was a rock!

**DarkFoxKit:** A rock that perfectly oval shaped? You should've at least thought something was unusual about it. But anyways… As for Cliff's name, T.M and I actually had trouble trying to come up with a name for the Larvitar. I usually liked naming my Larvitar in game Godzilla, but in context of this story, that name wouldn't have made any sense. We didn't want to go for something stupid like 'Rocky' or 'Dirt', but we did want something to fit with Larvitar and its evolutionary line. When I was playing Pokemon Mystery Dungeon DX, the name came to me, because of the Rescue Team Camp being a big cliff, that was when I decided on the name 'Cliff' for the Larvitar. Also yeah, Mama Carrie is awesome. XD

**Traveling Master: **So no need to worry about Crimson, he wasn't there to hear it. And like Al said, he's the reason why Team Destruct is called that.

**Chihiro: **Destruct'd! Why didn't I think of that. I gotta save that for later!

**Traveling Master: **Right...Anyways, about your theory, that is actually a very cool theory. And an interesting thing about your theory is that it was pretty close to how Al's background was originally supposed to be, way before me and DF started this story. I was still working out his story, and your theory was very close to it. But that was a while back, things changed, and well…me and DF have other plans concerning Al and his past.

And thanks for the kind words, though I think having a normal life is far more difficult than my current job. Luckily I'm getting the hang of my new work schedule, and turns out that I'll be having more time to be able to write with DF. So that's a bonus too.

**ArcherAmpharos****: DarkFoxKit:** We might have a few mishaps here or there, but we're not going to focus much on Berry and Dust taking care of a baby Larvitar. We might do that as a side story or something later, we'd like to stay focus on the main story.

As for Al, as T.M said to another reviewer, Al isn't, and wasn't, a human. His amnesia has nothing to do with him being human. So just a heads up on that.

**Guest****: DarkFoxKit:** Who could say? Otti is one odd Ditto. XP Perhaps Otti just likes to screw with Dust. Yeah, Berry really got the short end of the stick there. She really wasn't too happy to learn about what she ate.

**Lonelyboi69: Traveling Master: **We were hoping to shoot for that when writing about Cliff. Glad you find her cute. And while Al didn't mean any harm...Yeah...this is a pretty big OOF for him.


	22. Chapter 22: Welcome to the Mansion

**DarkFoxKit: *Was rolling some dice on the desk before she was typing something on the computer*** Why am I getting such crappy rolls lately?

**Traveling Master: *Was currently playing on my switch, so I was partially paying attention* **Uh...Maybe use different dice? Roll with your other paw?

**DarkFoxKit:** Maybe I should get a rabbit's foot to do the rolling. ***Looks over at what TM was playing*** Is that Spyro The Reignited Trilogy?

**Traveling Master: *I pause the game to show DF* **Yup, this was my childhood, along with Crash Bandicoot. Those two were great games. I already had beaten Crash, so now I'm focusing on Spyro!

**DarkFoxKit:** Heh, Spyro was definitely my childhood. I also played Crash Bandicoot when I was a kid, but it wasn't a series that really stuck with me like Spyro did. ***Then she notices something*** Uh, TM, did you bring in another purple dragon that we know and love?

**Traveling Master: *I look up from my switch to see what DF was talking about* **Uh...no...

**DarkFoxKit:** Then… what's she doing here?

***The two of them were looking at a familiar Goomy slithering onto TM's couch***

**Berry:** Hi, I've been wanting to meet the two of you. Well, I almost did, but then Dust unleashed total chaos and I didn't get the chance to speak.

**Dust: **Hey! That was not my intention... at first. Just...one thing led to another and well...you already know the rest.

**Traveling Master: **Dust! It's already bad enough when you barge in here, not to mention when Chihiro randomly shows up! Why do you keep bringing others in here?! No offense, Berry, just wasn't expecting to see you here.

**Berry:** Excuse me, Dust didn't bring me here. I came here myself.

**DarkFoxKit: ** How did you do that? I don't remember giving you the power to go through the 4th wall.

**Berry:** Well, maybe I did have a little bit of help from Otti.

**DarkFoxKit:** Of course you did. ***Grumbles***

**Dust:** Well, now that we're all here, how about we all watch the game TM is playing while the readers move on the chapter?~

**Traveling Master: **If we are going to be watching me, let me first dock my switch, so we can all see it on a bigger screen. Perfect timing too, I'm about to go on the TreeTops level…*Groans* Yay.

**Berry: *Slithers up on DF's head and gets comfortable***

**DarkFoxKit: **… What are you readers looking at? Get to the chapter already.

**Traveling Master: *Lost my first life in the level* **...This is gonna be a long day...

* * *

**Chapter 22: Welcome to the Strange Mansion**

Dust walked into the Dojo with Berry and Cliff on his back. After a good night sleep, and a hearty breakfast, Dust felt ready to finally start training again, and it was even better, because this time Berry would be joining him for the training.

"I've been looking forward to this for a long time now," Dust spoke up. "Not just using our new moves, but having you here. I'll be honest, it was quite lonesome when I trained here by myself."

"Heh, yeah… I figured since the tournament will be coming up soon, I want to be able to at least stand a chance against other teams," Berry admitted sheepishly. "And this might be a good chance for Cliff to see how we battle in a safe environment."

The Corviknight flew over to them. "Ah, Team Night Tide. What can I do for you today?"

"We've actually learned some new moves yesterday and were hoping to do some training with them," Dust explained.

"Oh, and what moves did you two learn?" Vesper asked.

"Berry learned Sludge Bomb, and I learned Iron Tail. We had trouble with a Fairy type recently, and Otti suggested it would be best if we at least learned a Steel or Poison type move," Dust answered.

"Ah, that is true, with just the two of you, you do have that unfortunate shared weakness to Fairy types. Very well then, in order to practice your new moves, use them against these training dummies. They will absorb your hits, and rebuild themselves if you break them," Vesper instructed, gesturing a wing to a few dummies. "They're meant for Pokemon to learn or test out their new moves."

Dust turned to Berry, to further explain. "They are actually very useful. I've used them before and was amazed by their designs. Oh, and you don't have to worry about breaking them, I've learned that they are very strong and can endure most attacks."

"Doesn't mean that we have the occasional member break one. Team Destruct has had more than their fair share of broken dummies. But like I said, they are able to repair themselves. Otherwise we would have run out of them a long time ago," Vesper chuckled.

"Heh, alright, then it'll be good to try out Sludge Bomb on these things," Berry agreed. "Cliff, you stay here while Mommy and Daddy use their moves. We wouldn't want you to get caught up in it and get hurt."

"Watch Mommy and Daddy?" Cliff asked.

"Yes, watch Mommy and Daddy." Berry nodded.

Cliff tilted her head at first, still not fully understanding, but then she smiled. " Okay, I watch Mommy and Daddy now."

Dust was relieved to have Cliff slide off of him, as well as Berry. Cliff sat down on the floor while Dust and Berry walked over to the training dummies.

Berry took a deep breath, seeming to expand herself a little, before she shot out a big ball of purple goop that slammed into the dummy, leaving purple sludge all over it. The Sludge Bomb was a bit weak, however, she needed it to explode on the dummy rather than just land on it. So Berry continued to make more big balls of purple goop.

Dust had been watching Berry for the first part, wanting to see her use the move. He was amazed by her use of it and would've been fine with just watching her, but he had his own move to use. Focusing on the technique, he felt energy built up in his tail. He looked back and saw his tail was now hardened, having a silvery shine. Again, if he wasn't training at the moment, he would've just just spent time taking notes while watching his tail. He imagined how best to use the move on the dummy, practicing it a few times in his head. Satisfied, he focused on the dummy before getting a running start. He then leaped forward, twisting his body in the air. He expected to make contact but suddenly he saw that he jumped past the dummy. Before he could react, he ended up crashing against the wall.

"Okay… that did not go how I thought it would," Dust shook his body as he got up. "Let's try that again."

Dust tried once more, but this time he twisted his body too soon, missing the dummy with his tail and instead crashed into it, face first. The third time he ended up tripping before even having a chance to leap forward.

When Dust tried again, he ran a bit too fast and when he tripped, he flipped around before he heard someone yelping in surprise before he suddenly had a face full of purple goop.

"Dust!? Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry!" Berry squealed, seeing that Dust ended up on the wrong end of her Sludge Bomb.

It took a moment for Dust to get up, shaking his head from receiving an attack just now. He looked down at his Pecha Scarf, glad that it protected him from being poisoned. "It's fine. It's a good thing I've been wearing my Pecha Scarf, still that was quite the attack… I should've been more careful, but I ended up tripping when trying to use Iron Tail."

Cliff looked more amused then anything, she was giggling while clapping her stubby arms together.

"Here's a tip," Vesper spoke up to Dust. "For first time users of Iron Tail, don't run. It's best for you to aim and take it slow first, then work your way up as you get more used to using your Iron Tail."

Dust nodded. "Thanks for the advice Vesper."

Dust was about to turn and continue his training, but Vesper placed a wing in front of him. "Maybe you should wash up first before doing so. Your Pecha Scarf may protect you from being Poisoned, but carrying all that sludge on your body can be dangerous."

Dust then realized his body was partially covered in purple sludge from Berry's attack. "Oh, hadn't realized I was currently a walking hazard. Berry, you can continue, I'll be back shortly."

"Yeah… maybe I'll choose a training dummy that's further away from yours," Berry sweatdropped.

* * *

After Dust and Berry trained with their new moves, they had gotten to a point where they were comfortable with using Sludge Bomb and Iron Tail on other Pokemon. But they had to admit that moving targets might be trickier, especially for Dust and his Iron Tail.

"If I may make a suggestion," Vesper spoke up to the two. "How about you both spar with each other?"

"Sparring? With each other?" Dust asked.

Vesper nodded. "Sparring with your partner is a great method for training. It helps both Pokemon grow and understand one another. I've seen Team Destruct Spar with one another many times. And whenever Crimson and Blizza come here, they mostly train by sparring with each other too."

"I've never had to battle against Dust before," Berry noted, sounding a little nervous.

"All the more reason to spar with him now. You can also help each other get stronger," Vesper pointed out.

Berry looked at Dust while he looked at her. "What do you think, Dust? You want to spar with me?"

Dust was also uncomfortable with the thought of having to battle against Berry too. "Well she explained it pretty well… If we want to improve, I supposed sparring would be the best option to take."

"When you two are ready, head on over to the arena," Vesper instructed. "Remember, no items, it will be a pure one on one combat."

Cliff gave a concerned look. "Mommy and Daddy fight?"

"Um… Not exactly, we are only practicing… Training," Dust tried explaining.

"Mommy and Daddy are helping each other get stronger," Berry added.

Cliff seemed to understand, before nodding. "Mommy help Daddy get strong!"

The two then headed over to the arena, where Vesper was waiting for them. "As I said before, no items. Also, while normally you are open to using any attacks, for this sparring match, I want you two to focus more on the new moves you've learned. You can still use your other moves, but you should practice more with what you've just learned. Now, are you two ready?"

Both Dust and Berry looked at each other, both feeling nervous having to spar with each other in only a few seconds. But seeing as this is necessary to help them improve, they both nodded.

"Then begin!" Vesper shouted

Dust made the first move, he decided not to go for Ice Beam since he didn't want to hurt Berry too much. He turned his tail into steel, intending to try to hit Berry with his Iron Tail. Berry shot out a sudden small Sludge Bomb at his head, which blinded Dust for a moment, making him miss Berry completely.

Dust then suddenly had the sludge washed off by Berry's Water Gun attack, which didn't feel like much of an attack. Dust blinked a couple times until he could see clearly.

"Um… Berry, was that supposed to be an attack?" Dust asked as he shook his wet fur.

"Uh… yes…?" Berry hesitantly answered.

But Dust could tell it wasn't meant as an attack. "Berry, I know you don't want to hurt me, trust me, I don't want to hurt you too. I even decided to not use Ice Beam… But I think we'd only hurting ourselves further by holding back. What if this was a real battle against an outlaw, or a dangerous opponent. I don't like the idea of hurting you, but… I also don't want to see you get seriously injured again because I was too weak to do anything. Only reason we made it out of that encounter with that Snubbull was because of luck, and I don't know how lucky we'll be if something like that were to happen again. So...I'm willing to use all my moves if you are willing to use your stronger attacks too."

Berry frowned. "But Dust… what if I… you know… lose it?"

"Not to worry, so far everytime you've begun to lose it, I've always felt this sense of danger approaching. As you know, our kind are known to sense oncoming danger. So if you do happen to start losing control, I'll be able to sense it and we can stop sparring immediately," Dust confidently explained.

The Goomy hesitated a little more before she gave a look of determination and nodded. "Alright… alright, if you're sure you want us to go all out, then… we'll do it."

_Dust is right, there's only so many times luck will save us. When I was facing that Goodra back at Waterfall Cavern, I thought I was going to die. When that Snubbull Attracted Brody, I thought we were going to die. I don't want to feel helpless again. We've both been in near death situations, so going all out on each other should be nothing._ Berry decided.

Dust and Berry gave a firm nod to one another before getting into battle position. Dust is the first to attack by firing an Ice Beam at Berry. He didn't want to use that move, but he knew if they were facing an opponent who used the same move, they wouldn't hesitate to use it on them, so he shouldn't hesitate either in this sparring match.

However, Berry knew Dust had that move, and remembered how much it hurt last time. So when Dust fired Ice Beam at her, she suddenly flattened herself so much to the ground that she looked like a purple puddle, which made the Ice Beam pass over above her.

_Amazing! _Dust thought to himself. Another burst of questions were coming to mind, but then he quickly shook his head. _No, now's not the time for that. I have to stay focused._

Berry shot out Water Gun at his face, unlike the several other times Berry used Water Gun on him, it didn't just feel like a gentle squirt of water, it actually stung. While Dust was trying to rub his eyes with his paw, Berry jumped over Dust. Dust didn't get the warning until he managed to open his eyes just before a purple gooey mass Body Slam onto his face, knocking him down as Berry bounced off of him.

Dust got back up, shaking a bit from just having his partner Body Slammed on his face. After a few seconds, he recovered, though wincing a bit from the pain. Dust kept his eyes on Berry as thinking of a battle strategy. He knew that despite her slow speed, Berry made up for it for fast thinking and resourcefulness. Dust thought of a new plan and set it in motion.

Rushing forward, Dust leaped high into the air while charging another Ice Beam. But instead of aiming it at Berry, he ends up firing the attack around Berry, causing the ground around her to be covered in ice. While still in the air, Dust adjusted his body as he fell towards Berry, his tail already becoming hardened as he prepared Iron Tail . Dust knew he would have a difficult time hitting a moving target, but with Berry surrounded by ice, he knew where he had to aim.

Berry, however, was bolder than Dust gave her credit for. She actually hopped onto the ice and let her body slide across the icy ground, which made Dust's Iron Tail miss her entirely and he hit the ground instead. While Berry was sliding on the icy ground, she moved her body to turn to Dust. She opened her mouth and Dust saw a familiar purple ball forming there. Dust knew that was Dragon Breath, but the fact Berry didn't fire it right away showed she was trying to condense it like she tried to do for Grant earlier.

It seemed as though the trap Dust had set up for Berry was now working against him. He knew he had to think of a plan before Berry fired her attack. Right now his best shot was Ice Beam, so just as Berry was charging her attack, Dust began charging his. Thinking Berry was planning on firing a powerful version of Dragon Breath, Dust decided to put more energy into his attack, hoping to counter Berry's attack. Unable to hold back the attack any more, Dust fired his overcharged Ice Beam at Berry.

Berry, however, didn't fire the little purple ball in her mouth. Instead she jumped as much as she could, barely, just barely, avoiding the large Ice Beam, though it did nick her bottom a little, causing ice to form there. With a hiss, Berry dropped the purple ball, which hit the ground with a small puff. Dust stared at where the ball hit, and saw it didn't leave much of an impact. That was when he realized that Berry never intended to use Dragon Breath, it was a feint. Realizing this too late, Berry landed on his back. Dust then felt a familiar drain of his energy. Looking back, he could see Berry's body was glowing green. She was using Absorb on him.

Dust tried firing another Ice Beam at Berry, but just as he charged his attack, it sputtered before disappearing. Dust then realized he used up all his energy for Ice Beam against Berry's feint. Dust tried shaking off Berry, but she held on tight while continuously using Absorb, each passing second draining more and more of Dust's strength.

As Dust was getting weaker, Berry abruptly stopped using Absorb and jumped off of him. Before Dust could say anything, Berry shot another Water Gun at him, but because she was so close, she only managed to hit his chest rather than his face this time, and the Water Gun, having been strengthened from using Absorb on him, pushed him back. The ice under his claws made him slip as well.

Dust managed to get back up, but was heavily breathing. Vesper was keeping a close eye on him, in case he fainted from exhaustion, but Dust stood his ground. Berry was some distance away from Dust, already realizing that with him unable to use Ice Beam, Dust had no other range attacks to use. Dust knew battling against Berry would not be easy, but it just dawned on him how dangerous an opponent could be when they personally knew you and how you fought. But there was one thing Dust knew that Berry didn't know. Heck, even Dust himself wasn't entirely sure of it. But each time those strange occurrences happened, those random visions appeared, they were always on accident. The only one he told about those strange moments was Chihiro, and no one else.

Dust never practiced trying to force a vision before, he didn't even know how they happened in the first place. But he noticed that each time it did happen, he was in some form of danger. From the first time against the wild Taillow, later during that deadly game of Tag with Grant and Al. Even when fighting against Brody it happened, and he felt that maybe he might be able to make it happen on purpose this time.

He took a deep breath before closing his eyes, trying to sense any familiar feelings from last time. But at the moment, all he saw was nothing, but that didn't stop him from trying to focus even more.

Berry noticed that Dust looked distracted about something. Normally she would wait and let the other Pokemon regain their focus, but since this was supposed to be a practice spar against other Pokemon, Berry would have to show Dust that the enemy will not wait around for him to think or regain his concentration if he started to space out. As dirty as it felt to the Goomy, she knew she would have to take the opportunity, better that she taught him the lesson now rather than someone else who would aim to kill. Berry fired an actual Dragon Breath attack at Dust this time, without condensing it since she wasn't confident enough to do that without it backfiring on her again.

As Berry had just fired her attack, Dust was still concentrating on searching for anything. He noticed a small sensation within and tried focusing on it. But then he sensed the oncoming attack. Part of him wanted to open his eyes, but he was so close to the feeling that if he stopped now, he knew he would miss his chance to use it.

Berry's Dragon Breath attack was halfway close to reaching Dust, but just then, as Dust continued to focus on that feeling, he suddenly felt that same feeling each time he was about to have a vision. And just as he did, he saw what was happening and what would happen. Seeing everything he needed to, Dust quickly opened his eyes to see he was only seconds away from being hit by Berry's attack. Following his body's instinct and the vision he just had, Dust jumped to the left, dodging the attack. But he didn't stop there, knowing what would happen next, Dust started charging towards Berry, already preparing his next move.

Berry was surprised at the sudden dodge Dust just did, she reacted quickly and tried to fire a Sludge Bomb at him, a purple ball of toxic goo beginning to form in her mouth. That was when Dust decided to take his chance. The Absol leaped at the Goomy, his tail turning into steel. Berry's eyes widened as Dust suddenly flipped himself over, his Iron Tail slamming not only into Berry, but at the purple ball of toxic sludge as well, which caused the Sludge Bomb to explode. Dust got some of the sludge on his tail in the process.

Berry fell a few feet away, her body sliding against the ice, which chilled her slide, causing her body to go stiff and cold. The purple sludge that was on her body after the Sludge Bomb explosion likely poisoned her as well.

Dust stood there, breathing hard. Even though everything played out exactly how he saw it, he still couldn't believe he managed to pull it off. But when Berry hadn't gotten up, Dust got very worried, completely ignoring all other thoughts.

"Berry!" Dust shouted as he rushed towards Berry. Reaching her, he saw that her body was looking more like a puddle. "Are you alright?!"

"Mommy!" Dust heard Cliff as she ran to her side.

Vesper landed beside Berry herself, checking the Goomy. "Hmm…"

Vesper held out a Pecha Berry and a Tiny Reviver Seed. "Feed her these. She's been poisoned by the Sludge Bomb, so the Pecha Berry should cure her, and the Tiny Reviver Seed will help her regain consciousness and heal her wounds."

Dust grabbed both the Pecha Berry and the Tiny Reviver Seed before feeding them both to Berry. After a few seconds of waiting, Berry started moving slightly while also groaning. Cliff immediately hugged Berry, glad to see that she was waking up.

"Mommy! You okay!" Cliff smiled.

Berry blinked open her eyes, seeing that she was being hugged by a Larvitar. She then looked up, seeing Dust and Vesper.

"Heh… looks like you won that one, Dust," Berry stated.

"Forget about winning, are you okay?" Dust asked once more.

"I'm fine… I might need a bath, but I'm fine," Berry reassured Dust. "I've been through worse. Though your tail packs a mean punch."

"Quite indeed," Vesper spoke up. "That was some impressive maneuver you pulled off Dust. If I didn't know any better, I'd say you already mastered using Iron Tail."

Dust chuckled slightly. "It was most likely a fluke, with all the adrenaline running, I wasn't sure myself of what would happen."

"I thought you were daydreaming, or trying to come up with a plan while we were in the middle of a battle," Berry admitted. "I guess I should've figured you were likely waiting for me to make a move before you strike."

"Daddy strong," Cliff said. "I want to be strong too!"

Vesper was still eying Dust, but decided to drop the matter for the time being. "Yes, your Daddy is quite strong. But your Mommy did great too. They both did a great job."

Cliff nodded, still hugging Berry even though she had some sludge on her from the Sludge Bomb explosion.

"Cliff, you're going to need a bath," Berry sighed.

"What's… a bath…?" Cliff asked.

* * *

"Are you sure this is how we're supposed to bathe a Rock and Ground type?" Berry asked in concern when she, Dust, and Cliff were back in their room.

Dust had Cliff on his back, standing by an indoor hose that sprayed water for them to get themselves clean. There was a grate under the hose to where the water would go.

"I mean they're not known to like water you know," Berry added.

"True, but how else are we supposed to wash off the sludge?" Dust asked. "Until we find another Pecha Scarf for her, we can't risk Cliff getting poisoned. Doesn't help that she's part Ground. While they are more resistant to poison, it doesn't mean they are immune, all that does for us is make it harder to tell if she's poisoned, since the symptoms would appear at a much slower rate."

Cliff was giving curious looks, seeing that her mommy and daddy were nervous about something.

"Maybe we should ask Carrie first, I don't want to accidentally hurt Cliff with water," Berry suggested in concern.

"I'm not sure if we have time to look for Carrie right now, this sludge could already be seeping through Cliff's rock-like hide," Dust argued.

"And water wouldn't feel like acid to her?" Berry frowned.

While the two were arguing, Cliff hopped off of Dust's back before she approached the hose curiously, poking it.

"It might hurt for a moment, but better to get over it quickly then have it become a bigger problem later," Dust answered. "Look, if it makes you feel better, we can do a little at a time instead of cleaning her entire body at once. See how she reacts, and if she can handle it, we keep cleaning more and more of her body."

Suddenly there was a jet of water that hit Dust, it was like being hit by a powerful Water Gun, and it pushed Dust several feet away. Berry blinked in confusion before she turned to see where the jet of water was coming from. She saw Cliff, holding the hose, and laughing as she just hosed her 'daddy' with the hose.

"Cliff? How did you turn on that hose?" Berry asked in surprise.

"Water! Mommy likes water!" Cliff smiled before she sprayed Berry with the hose, thinking she was making her mommy feel good.

Unfortunately, the hose was shooting too powerful for it to be relaxing to Berry. She was pushed back a little from the stream of water.

"Cliff! Stop!" Dust shouted while trying to get up, only to be blasted once again with the hose.

There was a knock on the door while the two were trying to get the hose away from the giggling Larvitar.

The door then opened suddenly. "Hey, I wanted to- uh, is this a bad time?"

Dust and Berry looked back to see who walked into their room, and were surprised to see it was Roxy the Rockruff.

"No! Perfect timing in fact! Turn off the hose!" Dust managed to shout before getting hit in the face with water.

"Uh, okay," Roxy answered, still confused by what's going on.

While Cliff was busy laughing while using the hose on Dust and Berry, Roxy made her way to the valve and turned it off. Cliff then noticed that the hose was spraying less and less water, until it finally ceased. Dust was completely soaked while Berry seemed extra slimy.

Cliff pouted when she saw the hose 'ran out' of water.

"Cliff… you already gave Mommy and Daddy a bath, now it's your turn," Berry grumbled.

Roxy was giggling herself. "You were trying to give this Larvitar a bath?"

Dust nodded. "Me and Berry had a sparring match earlier, and after we had finished, Cliff went and hugged Berry, not knowing that she was partially covered in poisonous sludge from Sludge Bomb. We were concerned about her getting poisoned, so we came here, hoping to wash it off...That is until Cliff got a hold of the hose and decided to give both of us a bath."

Roxy laughed for a moment. "It's best to keep an eye on young mons, they can sometimes cause a lot of problems unintentionally. I can help you give her a bath though, since I doubt you two have an experience giving a Rock type a bath."

"Some help would be much appreciated," Berry answered. "We're not really sure how water affects types that are normally weak to water."

"Most Rock type Pokemon hardly ever take a water bath, but I learned how to wash myself, though it does take some getting used to, but it's actually quite nice once you get the hang of it," Roxy explained. "You normally want to transition from a mud bath to a regular one."

"Okay, but how would that help us get rid of the sludge that's on Cliff now?" Berry asked.

Cliff walked over to Berry then nuzzled into her, seeming to like Berry's watery slime. The slime started to wash off the sludge that was on the Larvitar's body.

Dust just stared blankly at the sludge being washed off. "While normally I would be impressed by witnessing such a thing… I think it would've been nice if we figured that out before being completely soaked with water."

"Huh… I've never seen a Rock type enjoying someone's slime before," Roxy admitted.

"She… likely thinks my slime as some kind of affection due to always hugging me not long after she hatched," Berry guessed.

"Oh yeah! That reminds me why I came here in the first place," Roxy realized. "I wanted to find out why Team Night Tide had a baby Larvitar with them."

"I supposed we didn't really have much of a chance to explain ourselves," Dust admitted.

"Didn't help that you ran off, that really caught me off guard," Roxy pointed out.

Dust gave a nervous chuckle. "Sorry about that. Anyways, I had found that egg recently in the Phoenix Desert Dungeon, though at the time I thought it was a unique rock. The egg ended up hatching, and we didn't know what to do. We didn't want anyone else to see Cliff yet, not until we at least knew what to do with her first."

"Well that does explain your odd behavior yesterday," Roxy noted. "But in the end, I was right!"

"About what? Dust having a Rock type with him?" Berry asked.

"Well… I was right about that too." Roxy nodded. "But I also knew Dust would never experiment on a baby. I know he can get a little obsessive with his experiments, but I know he's a good Pokemon who knows not to cross the line. I just wanted to know where you got the Larvitar."

"Oh, happy to have answered your questions then," Dust smiled.

"But there is still one thing that I wanted to ask. Why did you run?" Roxy asked. "You could've just explained why you had the baby Larvitar in the first place instead of running. Honestly it made others worried that you were up to something."

"Again, sorry about that," Dust apologized once more. "It was just something… I was not expecting, and with that I ended up having a sort of panic attack. My body told me to run, and so I listened."

"Dust had some… problems with others judging him," Berry added, Cliff still nuzzling her.

"Oh? Well that's not good." Roxy frowned. "You should probably do something about that. After all, I like being friendly to others, even if they think I can be a bit much sometimes."

"Again, nothing serious," Dust quickly explained. "Just something I was not expecting."

Roxy smiled as she wagged her tail. "Maybe I can help you be a little less self conscious then~"

Dust gave a nervous look while Roxy continued wagging her tail.

* * *

Dust decided that he was glad he wasn't born as a canine Pokemon. After having spent half the day with Roxy, he wished he had Otti's ability to transform, or Crimson's ability to cast illusions on himself. Roxy had him going around the other guild members to explain what the Larvitar thing was about, before she had him pounce them to lick their face while wagging his tail, or nuzzle them with his neck like she often liked to do. Dust was sure he offended or scared a few members with that stunt.

By the time he managed to shake Roxy, he was relieved to be back in the room where Berry and Cliff were.

"Had fun being a canine Pokemon?" Berry asked, chuckling, likely having heard the other members talking about how weird Dust was acting.

Dust didn't answer at first, instead he climbed on his bed as he laid down, his back facing Berry. "You know, I've done a lot of stuff to earn the judging look from others. But this… This was humiliating! At least before, it was because of something I did, something I wanted to do! But this was down right degrading. I don't know how Roxy has no problem doing that everytime she greets a fellow Crusader!"

"Well, it probably helps that she's a cute little dog Pokemon," Berry remarked. "Absol are usually known for being these dark, foreboding, disaster warning, intimidating, broody Pokemon. So you acting all super friendly and cuddly was bound to throw a few Pokemon off."

"Nuzzle me, Daddy!" Cliff smiled.

"Not now Cliff. It's been a long day," Dust mumbled.

"Pwease Daddy? Pwwweeeeeeaaaaase?" Cliff begged.

Dust turned to face Cliff to tell her no again, but then he saw her begging eyes. He recognized those eyes. The classic Lillipup eyes. The reason why he recognized those eyes were because he used to use them on his own mother before, and how often he was able to get away with many things. That was until he had gotten older and his mother profoundly gave him a good smacking. Since then he hasn't used the technique, nor seen anyone else use them until now.

Dust tried to ignore the eyes, but eventually gave in and sighed. He changed his position, making an open spot for Cliff. "Okay, you win."

"Yay!" Cliff smiled before she waddled over to Dust.

Berry couldn't help but chuckle.

"Hey! No one can say no to the Lilliipup eyes!" Dust explained.

Cliff hugged Dust's furry chest, she appeared to like both Berry's goo and Dust's fur, which shouldn't surprise Dust since she did imprint on them both, and thus love her 'mommy' and 'daddy's bodies. Dust briefly wondered how most baby Larvitar felt when being raised by Tyranitar since their hide was not made for comfort or cuddling.

"I was thinking we would take a nap before we leave for the Strange Mansion tonight," Berry spoke up. "We wouldn't want to be exhausted when we get there and back after all."

"Right," Dust nodded. "This will be exciting, our first official night mission. Curious to see what kind of Pokemon we will encounter. If they are nocturnal, I was thinking of Noctowl or Decidueye. Or perhaps some other Dark Type Pokemon."

"Maybe, guess we'll see when we get there," Berry shrugged as much as she could.

The two of them laid out in their bed. Berry didn't feel the need to sleep in the pot because she was still extra wet from her little 'bath' earlier. Cliff had fallen asleep rather quickly in Dust's fur though.

"Hey Dust," Berry suddenly spoke up.

"Hmm?" Dust mumbled.

"I was just wondering about our spar earlier," Berry said. "I didn't mention it earlier, but… just before you defeated me with your Iron Tail, I noticed your eyes were glowing, or at least it looked like they were glowing."

"Glowing?" Dust asked. "Well that would be interesting to see, though I never noticed them glowing. Then again I can't really see my own eyes glow unless I was looking at a mirror at the time. Was there anything else strange about my eyes? Did they glow a different color? Were they completely white?"

"No, they just… glowed. I guess your blue eye glowed a little more than your red eye? I only saw it for like a second before you slammed into me, so I didn't get a good look," Berry answered. "I wanted to know if you maybe used some kind of special psychic move or something while you were spaced out back there."

Dust paused for a moment, trying to figure out exactly what he did. He kinda had an idea of how he did it, but as to what it was in the first place, or how to even explain it puzzled Dust. "Well it wasn't exactly a psychic move...At least I don't think it was. Maybe it has to do with me being an Absol and our ability to sense oncoming danger. Or maybe…"

Dust paused once more, thinking about his encounter with Giratina. He recalled how the Ghost Dragon had mentioned that he would obtain some sort of gift, but never explained what it would be. But after all the past experiences, Dust felt that perhaps they were all related to this gift Giratina had mentioned before. Part of him wanted to share his thoughts with Berry, but everytime he thought of mentioning Giratina, he grew hesitant. Plus, he didn't want to worry Berry about his encounter with Giratina, the Pokemon of death itself.

"All I know is that sometimes I've been able to… somewhat see what would happen before it does," Dust explained. "I know it's hard to understand, I don't fully understand myself. But doing our sparring match, I wanted to see if I could actually do it on purpose this time."

"So you can see the future somewhat?" Berry asked.

Dust nodded. "The first time it happened was when we were in the Dusk Forest Dungeon, when that Tailow was attacking us. The second time was during that game of tag, when Grant and Al were charging at us at the same time. And the last time it happened was Brody was under the influence of Attract, though that one was different. It was like I could see what he would do before he even didn't it, while still dodging his attacks. But one thing they all had in common was that they happened on their own. I wanted to see if I could somehow pull it off when we were battling."

"Wow… how did you get that ability then?" Berry asked.

"Well…" Dust wanted to tell Berry about his theory, about how it was most likely due to his encounter with Giratina, but once again he suddenly felt reluctant to do so. So instead he decided to tell parts of his theory. "I think it may have to do with when I almost died. I think it might've triggered something in me, a sixth sense of sort. At least that's my guess, besides that, I'm not entirely sure."

Berry frowned, she didn't like being reminded how Dust almost died, especially since it was her fault in the first place. "Maybe… I suppose… whatever the case, perhaps we can see it as a good thing… you know, as long as you using that ability doesn't come at some kind of cost."

"Well, so far I haven't noticed any repercussions, though I do recall having a massive headache when I first used this ability. Then there was that time with Brody where…" Dust was about to mention his painful experience when fighting Brody, but as he thought about the headache, he recalled the voice he heard in his head too. "Well then again, I was already in pain from his attacks, so it's hard to say if it was from using the ability, or just from regular pain."

"Maybe it's something we'll have to… heh, experiment on later," Berry decided. "For now, let's just say it's good for an ace in the hole for when we really need it, kind of like my… outbursts."

Dust nodded. "Agreed. For now, let's get some rest. We have a busy night ahead of ourselves."

"Yeah. Heh, seems Cliff already fell asleep. Just hope she doesn't mind it too much when we leave her with Carrie or Chihiro," Berry remarked as the two of them got comfortable.

* * *

Dust was walking out of White Leaf Town with Berry on his back. They were able to get Cliff to understand they had to leave her with Carrie for the night, and promised to come back. Cliff wasn't too happy to have her 'mommy' and 'daddy' leave, but she didn't put up too much of a fuss, she seemed to understand she couldn't go everywhere with her 'parents', and she did seem to like Carrie a lot.

It was night, and there was barely any moonlight due to it being a new moon tonight. Dust was able to see in the dark just fine, though it was the first time he had to walk out after it was past 8 PM. It was almost like he was walking in a completely different area.

"And this is where Brody took you last time to rent a carriage?" Dust asked.

"Yeah, they do have a few Pokemon that take night shifts," Berry answered. "I doubt we'll be seeing Sunny and Twilight this time though."

"Shame, it's been a while since we last saw them. But I'm sure we'll see them again in the future," Dust optimistically said.

It wasn't long until they had reached the carriages where Brody had shown Berry last time. But instead of them breaking the rules and sneaking out, this time they were doing a mission. Dust went to the nearest carriage with a Pokemon, a Blitzle.

"Excuse me, we were hoping to use your services tonight," Dust said.

Blitzle eyed the Absol for a moment until the Blitzle turned her eyes towards Berry. "Wasn't expecting to see you again."

"Heh… didn't expect to come here again either," Berry admitted sheepishly.

"Well, I'll have to get a different Carriage since I carry a one-mon only Carriage," Blitzle stated before she walked to the back.

After about a minute later, a Houndoom and Mightyena came over, pulling a bigger Carriage that was more similar to the one Sunny and Twilight always carried.

"A Carriage for two?" The Houndoom said.

"Yes, that'll be for us," Dust answered.

"Show us the destination, then hop on in," The Mighyena stated.

Dust held out the invitation for the two Dark Canines to see. After reading it for a moment, they both give a nod. With that Dust and Berry climbed into the carriage. With the two onboard, the Houndoom and Mightyena began pulling the carriage, heading towards their new destination.

"It's kind of creepy to be out here after dark," Berry admitted. "I don't think I've ever been out here after the sun went down before. It's almost like an entirely new place."

"I can see how it can be discomforting for you, being a Dark type myself, our eyesights are more attuned to the night," Dust explained. "Out of all Dark types, it is said that Umbreon have the best vision in the dark."

"I think Umbreon can also light up the darkness with those golden rings on its body," Berry remarked. "Also, isn't the Shinx line known for seeing in the dark the best?"

"Well, I did say Dark types, the Shinx line isn't Dark type… even if they look like they could be," Dust stated.

"Yeah, that's kind of weird, isn't it? A type that looks like it should be, but isn't?" Berry chuckled, though she sounded half sarcastic.

Then they suddenly heard what sounded like very creepy howling in the distance. It sounded like something really creepy was out there rather than a normal canine Pokemon.

"Don't worry about that howl," Houndoom spoke up. "That kind of howl comes from my kind. It's not an attack or stalking howl, they're likely grouping up a pack to hunt around their territory. We're far away from them, judging from the distance of the howl, so we should be fine."

"Interesting," Dust noted. "I've done some research on your kind before, but never read anything about your howls. But one thing that did sound a little hard to believe was your fire. Is it true that your flames can cause lasting pain, even after it's been put out?"

"Heh, as much as I want to say it's true, it's actually over exaggerated to scare little mons, and also make for a good Halloween story. What actually happens is that we mix toxins into our flames when we burn our opponent or prey, the toxins in our fire is what causes the long lasting pain. It can last for days up to months, some unfortunate souls may get a concentrated toxic fire and the pain could last for potentially years. That's likely where the story comes from," Houndoom answered. "Thankfully, humans back in ancient times, and civilized Pokemon have modern medicine that will kill out the toxins. If they didn't, every Pokemon that got burned by one of my kind would never be able to fight again, or at least fight as well as they did before. Even if they recovered from the pain, the burn would leave an ugly scar if not treated quickly enough."

While Berry found the information unsettling, Dust was taking in every word. "That is incredible. I'll be sure to take extra caution if I'm ever up against a Houndoom then. But still, part of me would be curious by how it would feel exactly. The sensation, the pain, I would write down every single description."

"Please don't say things like that, Dust, you're tempting fate," Berry groaned. "And I rather you didn't almost die on me again because you got too curious for your own good."

"I've always been a little jealous of your kind," Mighyena spoke up to the Houndoom that was running beside him. "It'd be really nice to have that kind of Fire power. My kind can howl too, but it's nowhere near as spine chilling as how you could howl."

"But I did read how your kind are one of the most coordinated canine hunters," Dust pointed out. "Whether it was wild or civilized, your kind are always well versed when working together."

"Heh, well that is true~" Mighyena smirked proudly, making Houndoom roll her eyes.

"Jeez… coming out here at night is creepier knowing there are Pokemon like that roaming around. I mean no offense to you two, but I rather not get burned by toxic fire, or surrounded by Mightyena," Berry shivered.

"We understand. Most Crusaders don't usually like coming out at night for that very reason, unless they're high ranks or a part of the nocturnal Pokemon," Houndoom chuckled.

"Though I'm surprised that you're creeped out. I figured with an Absol as your partner, you'd be used to this kind of thing. No offense," Mightyena pointed out.

"None taken," Dust replied.

"Dust is more of a day time Absol than a night one," Berry answered.

"Ah, that might explain it, unusual, but not impossible for a Dark type to be out and about in the daylight hours," Houndoom noted. "But there's a reason why we Dark types prefer the night over the day. We blend in with the darkness, we feel more in control, our prey can't see us, but we can see them. We thrive in the shadows, ready to pounce, and roam the darkness under the stars, waiting, watching, and feeling the shadows giving us strength."

Berry looked more and more creeped out as the Houndoom went on. Dust just nodded, having heard something similar from his mother before.

"You're not doing the Absol's partner any favors you know." Mightyena rolled his eyes.

Houndoom chuckled. "I know, it's just fun to scare someone once in a while."

_Suddenly going to this Strange Mansion sounds more like a death sentence than a mission._ Berry gulped.

The remainder of the ride was in silence, though Berry did jump at every sound and howl she heard. And before long, Berry could already see a large mansion up ahead. She ended up clinging to Dust's leg as the Carriage came to a stop near the mansion's entrance.

"Welp, here we are, the Strange Mansion," Mighyena announced.

"This place popped up out of nowhere a few weeks ago," Houndoom spoke up. "Be careful, you don't know what you might find in there~"

"Oh stop it, Inferna" Mightyena laughed. "You already scared her enough, I'm sure they'll want a break from your teasing now."

"Hunter, you know a little scare never hurts anyone," Inferna smiled.

Hunter just shook his head before turning towards Dust and Berry. "Don't mind her, you two stay safe now. Be on your best guard, you don't know what you'll run into in this Strange Mansion."

"Thank you for the advice and for the ride," Dust said as Hunter and Inferna started to turn away and leave. "Hmm, they seemed pretty nice."

Berry didn't say anything, she was too busy trying not to sweat out her goo all over Dust's back.

The Absol walked up to the steps, standing right in front of the mansion's door. He wasn't sure if he should knock or ring a doorbell or slip the invitation under the door. After a few seconds of deciding, Dust reached out and rang the doorbell. As soon as Dust had pressed the doorbell, the bells gave a pleasant chime, but with each passing second, each chime grew longer and more ominous, until the last bell made a very deep chime that echoed through the night.

Both Dust and Berry took a step back, even Dust had found the doorbell unsettling.

Then a few seconds later, the door opened, seemingly on its own. Dust stepped into the mansion. The mansion itself was pretty dusty, though it also looked nice. There was a large door in front of them, and a set of stairs that lead up. There was a red carpet on the floor.

There was a sudden noise that freaked Berry out, she gave a yelp as she quickly and frantically looked around. Her antennae pick up the presence of something.

"Dust! We're not alone here!" Berry hissed.

"Can you sense where they are?" Dust asked as he looked around, trying to find the source of the noise.

"N-not really…" Berry frowned. "It's a bit hard to tell…"

There was a sudden lightning and thunder, the lightning showed a large shadow that looked distinctly like a Pikachu.

"Oh, it's just a Pikachu," Dust pointed out. "Nothing to worry about, Berry. Well except for the sudden thunder and lightning. I swore it was a clear night only seconds ago."

Berry was still shaking as the shadow of a supposed Pikachu started coming near them, making these eerie noises as it got closer.

"D-Dust, look at that Pikachu, there's something wrong with it! Those ears don't look right, they look all long, crooked, wrinkled, and the head is wobbling unnaturally… I think it broke its neck!" Berry yelped.

At first Dust was alarmed at hearing that, but when he got a better look, he _did_ notice some strange things about the Pikachu. Upon closer look, what Dust thought was a Pikachu was actually some sort of costume. But that only made Dust wonder why a Pokemon would be wearing some sort of Pikachu costume. Dust felt he had seen pictures of this costume before, but couldn't quite remember everything he read about them.

The strange creature in the Pikachu costume started to cackle after seeing Dust and Berry's reaction. "Welcome to our mansion~ It has been centuries since we've got… heh, visitors here, living visitors~"

Berry was squirting a lot of goo on Dust's back as she was scared stiff. "L-living visitors!?"

"Yes, for you see, those who come here…" The creature in the Pikachu's costume suddenly had a pair of yellow stars flashing at the costume's torso. "LOSE THEIR SOULS!"

There was a sudden flash of lightning, Dust only had time to blink as a long, black tendril with claws reached out and stopped in front of his face. He yelped and jumped back in reflex.

The creature in the Pikachu's costume then laughed suddenly before pulling back the 'arm' under the costume. "Forgive me, it's been too long since I was able to scare someone like that. Allow me to introduce myself; I am Mimi, Mimi the Mimikyu. I am but a humble servant of the Strange Mansion."

"Mimikyu? Of course!" Dust exclaimed. "That's what your kind is called. I remember seeing pictures of your kind in children's books. I never would have imagined ever meeting a Mimikyu! Oh I have so many questions! First-"

Dust stopped when he felt something wet spread across his back. Frowning, Dust turned back to see Berry's body resembled a purple puddle. Berry's eyes were spiraling.

"Oh dear, seems my little scare prank might've overwhelmed the poor Pokemon on your back," Mimi noted. "I didn't realize that someone from Team Night Tide would be faint of heart considering your reputation among the Ghost types around here."

"I think Berry is not used to meeting another Ghost type who is very… Uh…" Dust tried to think of an appropriate word to describe Mimi.

"Creepy?~" Mimi questioned.

"I wouldn't exactly say creepy… But yes," Dust nodded. "Though to be fair, the only other Ghost Pokemon I've met was our Guild Master and her grandchildren, and they are very different from you. No offense."

"None taken. Ghost types are creepy by nature. I know about Chihiro and her adorable grandchildren. They can easily get along with non-Ghost types pretty well, and I have to commend them for that," Mimi remarked. "Ghost types don't often get the best reputation."

Suddenly another lightning and thunder went through the mansion, which snapped Berry awake. "Ghost types! Ghost types! … Oh… you're okay."

Dust couldn't help but chuckle a little at Berry's reaction.

"I apologize to you. I just wanted to give a little scare~" Mimi giggled. "I can show you around the Strange Mansion. The others would like to meet you, especially you, Dust."

"Oh, well good to know that others wish to meet with me. I actually am looking forward to meeting with them as well," Dust smiled as he thought of countless questions to ask them.

Berry frowned a little before Mimi turned around and began to move towards the large door. Like with Phantom and Spooks, Mimi phased through the door. Dust had to push it open to go through. There were corridors on the other side, and many doors. There were little tables and cases around, as well as dusty pictures of what appeared to be humans. Humans that had likely lived in this mansion in the ancient times. There were pictures of human children with their pet Growlithe, pictures of adolescent humans riding on Ponyta, and pictures of adult humans having some kind of party feast with their entire family, Pokemon included. They looked nice, but the fact they were dusty, their placements on the wall were crooked, and some of the pictures looked a little torn or tattered, made them look creepy to Berry.

Dust on the other hand was taking it all in. First he was lucky enough to encounter a Mimikyu, now he was looking at each picture, amazed by so many humans. He was sad that most of them were damaged from time itself, but the fact that he could still glimpse some of them was good enough for them. If it wasn't for the fact that Mimi was waiting for them to follow, Dust might've stayed the whole visit, looking at all the pictures. There was one picture in particular that made him pause for a moment. It was a picture of a little human girl, she had short brown hair, and wore some kind of striped shirt. She was cuddling with a Pikachu plushy. There were some letters at the bottom of the picture that said 'Mi'. Some letters were missing or torn though.

"We are almost there," Mimi spoke up. "The party room."

"A… party room?" Berry cautiously asked.

"Of course, you didn't think that the others would've sent an invitation and just let you stay here with nothing to do, did you?" Mimi chuckled.

"Well seems very appropriate too, though I'm not one for those kinds of social activities, we were invited and would be rude if we kept them waiting any longer," Dust explained.

Berry looked nervous. "Dust, we don't know how Ghost Pokemon 'party', for all we know this could be some ritual to eat your soul or something."

"While I do understand your concern, if they wanted to take our souls, I'm sure they wouldn't bother with throwing a party," Dust explained. "They could've easily done it the moment we've walked in. Ghost Pokemon are known to be able to do many strange and mysterious things."

"I assure you, we have no plans on eating your souls," Mimi spoke up. "Though… there might be a Pokemon here who would be… tempted. Don't worry though, he's currently out, so you shouldn't run into him tonight."

"... I-I hope you're right…" Berry shivered.

They stopped at a door, this time, instead of going through the door, Mimi's long, black claw came out from under her cloth before she reached up and grabbed onto the doorknob, opening it. Dust watched, his curiosity peaking as he saw the long black claw slipping back under the Pikachu costume. As the doors had opened, Dust and Berry were greeted to a spacious room, filled with many Pokemon Dust assumed were all Ghosts. He noticed how the chandeliers were glowing a strange dark color, but upon closer look he realized that there were in fact the Pokemon Chandelure. At first everyone was busy mingling with each other, but as soon as Mimi had opened the door, all eyes had turned their attention towards Team Night Tide.

Mimi drew out her black claw in front of Dust and Berry in a showing manner before addressing the room. "I present you Dust Absol and his partner, Berry, of Team Night Tide."

The Ghost Pokemon all gave a loud cheer.

"Didn't think we would meet them so soon!" A Shuppet remarked excitedly.

"This will make things more fun now~" A Gastly grinned.

"I wonder if they are just how others described them?" A Misdreavus commented

Several Litwicks got on the table, lighting their purple flames like fancy candles. "Please, join us for a nice party. We have food and fine berry juice."

"You… eat and drink too?" Dust asked.

"Of course, just because we're Ghost types doesn't mean we can't eat," Mimi chuckled.

"Fascinating, oh how I wish I brought my notepad with me, I'll just have to make sure to recount everything that happens!" Dust exclaimed.

"As interesting as taking notes sound, I think you two will be too busy enjoying this party~" Mimi chimed.

Dust nodded, not minding the fact that he was in a room filled with Ghost Pokemon, while Berry was still creeped out by all the watchful eyes.

An orange glowing manikin walked over, bringing plates of food and putting it down on the table. There were a few Duskulls that brought in some cups of berry juices. Once the food was all set up, a Rotom came out of the manikin.

"Enjoy the food~" Rotom smiled.

Dust found a food spot at the table, and he looked back at Berry, seeing that she refused to move. The Absol nudged her a bit, before having her slide onto the table next to him.

"Relax, Berry, you look like you're about to melt again," Dust chuckled.

"How are you so unaffected by all of this? How do you know that food isn't cursed or something? What if by consuming it, you'll end up binding your soul to this mansion?" Berry hissed.

"Well for one, Dark Types are rather resistant to Ghost Type moves. Second, as I mentioned before, if they truly meant to cause us harm, they wouldn't have bothered setting up this whole event. They could've easily attacked us the moment we walked in. And third…" Dust started to chuckle a bit. "After spending so long with my mother, hardly anything can compare to the terror she can bring. I think I'd rather eat cursed food than have to face my mother's wrath."

"Well I'm not a Dark type!" Berry hissed.

"Live a little, don't be such a sour puss, you big Bug type," The Misdrevous remarked.

"Besides, if the food was cursed, we'd be curing ourselves," Gastly informed.

A Litwick took a sip of a berry juice. "There, see? Not cursed. At least try it."

Berry frowned, she still wasn't convinced, but she realized if she kept raising a stink about it, she would be insulting the Pokemon who invited them here. The Goomy turned to Dust, and saw he was already taking a bite out of an apple on the plate.

"See, nothing bad. And if it makes you feel better," Dust took a sip of berry juice before continuing. "We can wait and see if something bad happens to me. If it does, we can use the badges and leave immediately."

Berry frowned a little before she watched Dust deciding to eat what looked like a thick steak. Berry blanched a little, she knew Dust was a natural carnivore, but she still didn't like seeing him eat something that came from a once living Pokemon, even if it was wild. The poor Miltank or Tauros that the steak came from was quickly being ripped apart of by Dust, who seemed to be enjoying it a lot. Berry turned away, but she couldn't help but feel a little hungry as she watched the other Pokemon eating. She hadn't eaten anything since breakfast that morning.

After a little bit of time passed by, Berry decided to take a chance. Dust appeared to be alright so far, and if Dust was going to fall, Berry supposed she might as well fall with him. She quickly ate up whatever food was in front of her that wasn't made of meat. It was surprisingly good.

"Heh, Musk the Haunter, is our cook. He was a really good chef in his former life," Mimi explained, seeing that Berry was finally eating.

"Former life?" Dust paused from eating after hearing this. "I always assumed Ghost Pokemon were born from other Ghost Pokemon."

"Some Ghost Pokemon are," Mimi answered. "But there are some who became Ghost types upon death. Many of us had former lives before becoming what we are today. Your guild master, as well as her grandchildren, were likely born Ghost Pokemon. Back in ancient times, humans believed Yamask were the spirit of people who died, holding a mask that resembled their face. Phantump were believed to be human children who died when they got lost in the woods. Well, those legends aren't exactly wrong you know. But there are different ways for humans to become different Ghost Pokemon upon death."

Berry sighed, she didn't expect to hear how Ghost types were dead people, but she was surprisingly more curious than creeped out about it. She grabbed onto one of the berry juice cups with her right antenna and started to gulp down the berry juice, which had a strong taste to it.

"Interesting," Dust noted. "But what about you? I haven't read much on your kind, but there was a rumor about how beneath your cloth is something that hardly anyone has seen. Would you mind if I took a peak?"

Mimi gave a curious look to Dust. "There is a reason why our true forms were never documented, not back in human times, or now. If you see our true form, you will die."

"Oh, well dying would be quite the shame. Can't really be doing that again, now can I?" Dust laughed at his own joke.

Berry threw the cup at Dust's face, which was thankfully made of paper. "Don't even joke about that!"

Dust was quite shocked by Berry's reaction. Thinking about it now, he can understand why Berry would be upset, but normally she showed more restraint when angered. "Right, sorry… Is everything alright, Berry?"

"Everything is perfectly fine, even though we're hanging out with possibly dead people," Berry answered.

"Oh dear," Mimi spoke up. "I forgot that non-Ghost types have different bodies than we do. The berry juice has some added alcohol to add flavor, since most of our natural sense became dull. While it doesn't make us drunk, I suppose it would have a different effect on other Pokemon if they can't hold their drink very well."

"If that's the case, maybe we should ease up on the drinks, Berry." Dust suggested.

"Oh, so now you want to ease up on the drinks, well too bad! We've already drank them, so now you put the food where your mouth is and stuff it!" Berry huffed.

"Wow, this Bug type is a riot!" A Gastly laughed.

"Oooh, maybe I am a Bug type, perhaps a Water and Bug type, Dusty~" Berry smiled.

Dust just blinked at his partner, surprised by her words. Dust grabbed the cup by Berry and moved it away from her. "I think you've had enough."

"Some Oran Berry juice on some nice meat will help sober her up a little," Mimi suggested. "This type of berry juice gets flushed out quickly with the right kind of meat."

"Actually she isn't really comfortable with eating-" Dust started before Berry had cut him off.

"Do the Miltank like being eaten!?" Berry shouted. "Do they go to the pasture in the sky?"

Mimi sighed a little before she took one of the steaks, squeezed some Oran Berries on it, then she stuffed it into Berry's mouth as she was shouting about Miltank. Berry, in her drunken stupor, didn't seem to notice that the steak in her mouth was meat. She just liked the taste of it.

Dust couldn't help but observe Berry eat the meat, seemingly not bothered by it. He knew it was most likely due to the alcohol, but still, Dust couldn't help but wonder how Berry felt while eating.

"Berry, how do you feel?" Dust asked.

Berry swallowed the steak rather quickly since she had no teeth to chew it with. "Hmmmm? I feel tasty~"

Berry then shook her head for a moment. "I mean that food was tasty, whatever it was."

"Ah there we go, she's already sobering up," Mimi noted.

Dust then got close to Mimi to whisper to her. "If you don't mind not mentioning how she just consumed meat. Last time she accidentally ate meat, her stomach hadn't exactly agreed with it. And I'm sure if she found out now, all that alcohol in her stomach would just make it worse."

"Oh? Is she an herbivore Pokemon then?" Mimi asked. "I'm afraid I'm not familiar with her species."

"Um... Not exactly. She is a vegetarian, someone who only eats fruits and vegetables, but her kind is an omnivore Pokemon," Dust explained.

"Oh, I guess even Pokemon of today could still make life choices like that," Mimi muttered, then she suddenly went stiff.

The other Ghost Pokemon suddenly stopped doing what they were doing and looked up in alarm.

"Is everything alright?" Dust asked, but then he tensed up a bit, his instincts warning him of something, but of what he couldn't tell.

Surprisingly, Berry was the only one who didn't seem all that stressed out. "Hmm? What's everyone doing?"

The other Ghost types quickly fled the room, going through the walls, ceiling, or the floor. Mimi was the only one who stayed.

"We have to get you two out of here!" Mimi hissed.

"W-why? What's going on?" Berry asked, surprised.

"The owner, the owner is back earlier than we expected," The Mimikyu replied.

Before Dust could ask, a large Dusknoir appeared in the room, along with a few Sableye and Duskull. Dusknoir eyed Dust before giving a sinister laugh.

"Welcome to my mansion, Dust Absol~" Dusknoir gleefully said.

* * *

**FoxyKhai0209****: Traveling Master: **Thank you. We've been waiting to finally introduce Gale for a while now, and we still have a lot more plans for other future characters. I always thought that other Pokemon should be working as Mailmon, as Gale described, there are certain areas that other Pokemon are more suited for delivering mail.

As for the tournament, it's not too far, only about two weeks to go until the tournament, in-story. Then Dust and Berry will have a chance to increase their rank.

**Star Aquarius****: DarkFoxKit:** Heh, yeah, Cliff is indeed adorable~

**Dew Aura****: Traveling Master: **Oh yes, very mysterious indeed. As I mentioned before about Al, he was my first character I've created, and something that I always have him end up with is amnesia. So I'm excited to finally share that bit with Al.

**Greatest Guy****: DarkFoxKit:** Yup. Though this is more a take on human years, Pokemon could age differently though. Dragon types usually have a longer lifespan than most other Pokemon with a few exceptions like Wartortle (said to live over 10,000 years in the Pokedex) or Ninetales (said to live over 1,000 or so years in the Pokedex). And yes, Cliff is indeed cute~

**Chihiro**: Ha! ReGALEd! I remember that one, oh you should've seen the look on Gale's face. He'd up and _Flygone _away!

**DarkFoxKit:** Greatest Guy, why do you keep bringing more fuel to the fire?

**Chihiro**: If the reader wants to add fuel, then let him. Puns may be hard, but that just makes them more worthwhile!

**Sandy Jewel****: DarkFoxKit:** Heh, oh don't worry, we'll be getting into Cliff's parents at some point. That's going to be fun to write for.

**Violet Sparkle****: Traveling Master: **Yup, just like DarkFoxKit explained earlier, they're measuring their age like human years, though ages could differ between species, and whether they're wild or civilized, with the exception of certain Pokemon. Like she mentioned, Dragons do have longer lifespan, and Chihiro is very old. Won't say how old...mostly because I'm not even sure how old she is exactly.

**DarkFoxKit:** Chihiro is also half Ghost type, and so she doesn't age past her prime, which is why she is still young despite living for… a really long time.

Chihiro: Alright, I think we talked long enough about how old I am, let's just move on. No need to _Dragon_ this conversation.

**Lonelyboi69****: DarkFoxKit:** Thank you. :3

**ArcherAmpharos****: DarkFoxKit:** Yes! Luigi's Mansion! That's where the inspiration came from!  
Cliff is definitely adorable, while we won't show all of how Dust and Berry's interactions with her, we do like to show some to make the scenes more organic.

**Star Pisces****: Traveling Master: **Welp, you are just gonna have to wait and see what's so special about the invitation.

**Mystic Shy****: DarkFoxKit:** Sorry, but even we don't know how long it will be before the next update. It all depends on our schedule and when we can get together to write. We will update when we can, but we can't always update, even if it's been two or so weeks since the last one. Please try to understand and be patient, we don't plan on abandoning the story at the very least.

**Traveling Master: **These last two weeks have been a bit...rough, to say the least. But like DF said, we aren't planning on giving up on this story, we still plan on working the best we can with it. But thank you for your concerns.


	23. Chapter 23: Strange Doors

**Traveling Master: *I was typing furiously on my keyboard, while occasionally looking at the time* **We're late! We're very late! So very very late!

**DarkFoxKit: **I swear, if you say 'for a very important date', I will kick you.

**Traveling Master: *I laugh a bit before going back to typing again*** Glad you got that reference, but that doesn't change the fact that we are behind.

**DarkFoxKit:** It can't be helped. Besides, we even got lucky we finished one chapter with how rare we've been able to write lately.

**Traveling Master: **You're not wrong there, it's been frustrating dealing with my work schedule. Just when I thought we finally figured out a good schedule for us, my work decided to place me on a shift that makes it even more difficult for us to write!

**DarkFoxKit:** Just a fair warning to all of you readers, we may not be able to update every Friday due to TM's work schedule being a jerk. Also… looks like you've been working diligently on this chapter. Are you sure you want to upload it now while we're still writing it?

**Traveling Master: *I pause to look at the time, then back to seeing how much we've done so far* **Yeah, I mean, we were able to at least finish one chapter this week, and we don't know when the next update will be, depending on my schedule, so we should at least post this one. Plus, I'm sure we can finish before the readers finish the chapter. What's the worst that can happen?

**DarkFoxKit: **You should know by now to never ask that kind of question. Alright, let's see… ***Starts typing something up herself*** Perhaps… the next door they go into is…

**Traveling Master: *I noticed the readers were still with us* **Hey, you can't look at this part! Just start reading the chapter, you'll get to where we are later. Enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 23: Strange Doors**

Dust watched as the Dusknoir made his way to greet the Absol, grabbing a cup along the way. As he got closer and closer, Dust noted the Dusknoir had an air of superiority around him, but that paled in comparison with the pressure he was emanating. If it wasn't for all those years Dust had spent with his mother, he was sure he would've fled just like the other Ghost types. Even then, Dust couldn't help but feel the cold sweat run down his body as the Dusknoir finally reached their table.

"Apologies for my tardiness," The Dusknoir said with a bow. "Had I known you were coming tonight, I would've better prepared for the occasion. I am the owner of this establishment, you may call me Vlad."

Dust gulped before nodding at the Ghost Pokemon. "A pleasure to meet you, Vlad. Thank you for inviting us in the first place."

"The pleasure is all mine. I've heard many things about you and I've been _dying _to meet you," Vlad eerily said. "I do hope that you and your partner have been enjoying yourselves. The night is still young, and I hope that you two enjoy your visit even more."

Berry was disturbed by this Dusknoir, she didn't like the way he was looking at them. Mimi had been very quiet.

The Duskull and Sableye all spread out across the table, giving mischievous smiles as they looked at the Absol and Goomy.

"Perhaps we could bring you something special to eat, since it is a special occasion," Vlad stated.

"Uh, how very generous of you," Dusk chuckled nervously. "But we did have our fair share of something to eat and we don't want to-"

"Nonsense," Vlad interrupted Dust. "I insist, you are the honored guest tonight. Mimi, please go to the kitchen and prepare our special meal for our guests."

"Yes… Sir Vlad," Mimi answered and she turned to start moving past Dust, but she gave him a whisper. "When the lights go off, you take your partner and run for it. Do. Not. Eat. The. Food."

With that ominous warning, the Mimikyu headed away from the room. Berry decided to be smart and she hopped back onto Dust's back.

"How are you enjoying your stay so far?" Vlad asked with politeness in his tone.

"Well so far it has been an interesting sight," Dust admitted. "When I first heard that this mansion used to belong to humans, I was already excited to see what it would be like for myself. While a bit unfortunate that most of the paintings had either faded or were barely visible most likely due to time, I think it was still worth seeing some of the ones that were still intact. Tell me, I know that Ghosts normally live for quite a while, were you here when humans were?"

Vlad was taken back for a moment, not expecting to hear a question like that, but he quickly regained his composure before answering. "While that is an old memory, I do recount some experiences with them. Unfortunately it's been so long that it's rather difficult remembering them."

Berry remained quiet.

"So what about your little friend on your back? Can she speak?" Vlad asked.

Berry shivered a little on Dust's back.

"Uh, she can speak, but she's currently recovering. She may have eaten too much and ended up having an upset stomach," Dust covered for Berry.

"Well that's a shame to hear, but I promise after eating our special meal, you'll feel as good as new," Vlad said, keeping his eye on Berry, who was shivering more. "But in the meantime, I was hoping to learn more about you two and your reputations."

"Oh, and what have you heard so far?" Dust asked.

"That your soul was nearly taken to the afterlife by Giratina himself," The Dusknoir answered. "And that your partner saved you by bringing back a cure. I was wondering if you actually did meet with Giratina during that time, however, we Ghost types see Giratina as a deity after all."

Dust gulped as he felt a chill go down his spine. He never had told anyone about his encounter with Giratina. Everytime he tried to, he suddenly felt hesitant or reluctant, as though his instincts were telling him not to. So to suddenly hear Vlad call him out like that left him speechless.

"Aww, what's the matter, young Absol? Meowth got your tongue?" Vlad chuckled.

Thankfully, Dust was saved when Mimi came back in, carrying a large tray with her shadowy claw. She put the tray down on the table. Dust and Berry looked down to see whatever food was on the tray was glowing an ominous blue.

"Here is the special food," Mimi said as she slowly started to back away. "Please enjoy it."

"Dust… I don't like this…" Berry whispered to her partner.

Dust nodded, already feeling nauseous from just looking at the strange food. "Vlad, while we are grateful for your hospitality, I'm sorry to say but I think it's time for us to go. It's getting rather late and I'm sure the guild will start to wonder why we haven't returned yet."

Dust started to get up and walk away, just to bump into a group of Sableye and Duskull, blocking his path.

"Oh, after all the trouble we went through to prepare for your arrival, we insist you stay and enjoy your meal," Vlad ominously said.

The lightning flashed through the window, making the Ghost Pokemon around them seemingly far scarier than they appeared to be. Dust could feel Berry practically vibrating on his back. Then suddenly, the lights shut off, putting the room into darkness. While Ghost types normally didn't have any issues with seeing in the dark, it came unexpectedly, and with another flash of lightning, it blinded them.

"Hurry, this way!" Dust heard Mimi's voice.

Turning towards where Mimi shouted, Dust saw the Mimikyu at the end of the room, waving her shadowy claw to becken them. Wasting no time, Dust rushed towards her while all the other Ghosts were still recovering. As they reached Mimi, she led them through a door, making sure to close it once they were through.

"We don't have much time before they find us," Mimi warned. "But we have a little bit to have you two catch your breath."

"What… what was that… food?" Berry asked, trying to calm herself.

"You… probably don't want to know," Mimi answered. "But let's just say, if you did eat it, your bodies would… well… you would be shedding your bodies and become more like us in a way."

Berry stiffened at that. "It would've _killed_ us!?"

"Shhh! I know you're freaking out, but it would be wise not to be loud right now," The Mimikyu warned. Both Dust and Berry nodded before Mimi continued. "Good. Now let's get you two out of here before it's too late."

"Too late for what?" Dust asked, but then other questions started rushing to his mind. "Also, why was Vlad trying to feed us that food in the first place? How did he even know about…"

Dust paused for a moment, looking back at Berry. Normally he'd be reluctant to even mention Giratina, but after Vlad had been the one to bring it up, that feeling was less noticeable now and he figured now would be the best time to bring it up himself.

"Giratina?" Berry frowned. "Is it true that you… met with the Pokemon Devil, Dust?"

"Not exactly the Devil, but think of him as death itself. He seemed rather annoyed by the fact that the majority of Pokemon believe that Yvelta is Death," Dust explained. "But besides the point, yes, I did meet with Giratina."

"Wait, who said anything about Death?" Berry asked. "I was talking about the Devil. You actually met him!? But why? I mean I knew you were close to death, but not enough to actually meet with Giratina himself! … Have you been a naughty Pokemon?"

"I mean I have done some questionable things in the past, like abandoning you during our first mission, but Giratina isn't the Devil, or at least I don't think he is. Maybe, I'm not entirely sure… But think of him more as the Grim Reaper," Dust tried explaining. "And actually it was because I was close to dying, close enough to elicit a visit from Giratina."

"Giratina is indeed the Grim Reaper, though he does have many servants that could be considered as Grim Reapers as well. They, more or less, take dying souls to Giratina if Giratina himself can't get to them because he's busy with another, like Lampent or Haunter," Mimi explained as she began to move to another door.

"Interesting, he never mentioned anything like that before. Then again, I guess I never really gave him the chance with all the other questions I was asking. Should've thought to ask him something like that," Dust remarked as he followed after Mimi.

Berry shook her head. "Wait… getting back on topic, what does this have to do with Vlad wanting us?"

"Well…" Mimi hesitated a little. "I… really shouldn't be telling you this, but… Vlad… was the original owner of this mansion. Come, follow me while we talk, I don't want to stay in the same place for too long knowing we're being hunted."

Dust had so many questions buzzing through his mind, but knew that now wouldn't be the time for that. Right now they had to get to safety, and following Mimi was their best bet. Plus, Dust had a feeling he'd get his answers very soon.

Berry made sure she was stuck to Dust's back as he followed the Mimikyu out another door. Mimi looked around for a moment, making sure the coast was clear, before she led them out into the corridor.

"This Strange Mansion was once owned by humans as I'm sure you figured out by now," Mimi said quietly. "Make sure you speak quietly, we don't want to alert any nearby Ghosts who are loyal to Vlad."

Dust and Berry nodded.

Mimi then continued. "When humans were still around back then, Vladimir Plas was the owner of this mansion. He was extremely wealthy by human standards, and this made him a powerful man. He owned a lot of rare Pokemon. He had servants working here, though he did allow them to have rooms to stay if they lived far away from the mansion. Some servants took to living here, even letting their children stay since the mansion could provide for them. Vladimir wasn't a bad or heartless man by any means. He was a kind hearted man who loved Pokemon. Most humans loved Pokemon. But… one day, tragedy struck. I… excuse me, the humans thought that it only hit them at the time, but it was happening all over the world. Some kind of strange powerful force swept the entire mansion. The humans suddenly…"

Mimi paused for a moment to open another door to let Dust go in before she followed.

"Well… some humans suddenly turned into Pokemon, some humans ended up fusing into the body of another Pokemon that was near them and ran out of the mansion, while others… died. Most of the humans died actually from that force," Mimi sighed.

Dust had to stop to take this all in. Before humans were a mystery, almost all known information about them had been non existent. He had looked in the past for any resource, any book that might have any knowledge on humans, but the only thing that he could ever find was that they all suddenly vanished. To have someone to suddenly tell him such an important event among the human race was a bit too much for Dust.

"Hold on, so you're telling me that at some point, humans did exist, but then some world like event caused all of them to either become Pokemon or die?" Dust asked, feeling some doubt. "I'm sorry, but that's a pretty big claim you're making and I'm finding it rather difficult to believe. I mean… I want to believe, but part of me is having a hard time accepting it as truth."

"How do you know all this?" Berry questioned.

"I was there when it happened," Mimi answered. "As for whether you believe it or not, it doesn't matter to me. I needed to tell you this because it relates to why Vlad was trying to… 'kill' you two. You see, Vlad… well, like with you, Dust, he too was visited by Giratina upon death. Before Vlad was a Dusknoir, he was human, he was that Vladimir man. Vlad wanted to find a way to come back, to bring back the human race that was lost in that strange world event that, to this day, nobody could figure out what it was. Vlad felt it was more of some kind of curse then anything, a huge world event curse that made the human race go extinct. Giratina gave Vlad an answer. In order to bring back the human race, he would need to bring Giratina souls, strong, powerful souls that he himself gifted, or Arceus, or Mew, or any other Legendary Pokemon's blessings. I can't say I understand why that would help bring back the human race, but it was the only thing Vlad clung onto for thousands of years."

Mimi then sighed. "But… because Vlad died in this mansion, his soul is bound to it. Meaning he can't leave to go find these souls. The only thing he could do was to hear from someone on the outside about a Pokemon with a strong soul, then try to trick them into coming here. But as you can see, that hasn't been easy. After all these years, however, Vlad did figure out how to move the Strange Mansion from place to place, though it takes years for it to move. It was why the Strange Mansion wasn't seen around here until a few days ago."

Dust had remained silent as Mimi explained everything. At first he found it hard to believe, but the more he listened, the more he was convinced that the Mimikyu was telling the truth.

"So after hearing everything you had to say, I have to ask… Because of my encounter with Giratina, am I the first soul that Vlad had met?" Dust asked.

"No, you're not," Mimi answered. "There had been many souls before you, but rarely did a strong, blessed soul appear on the mansion's doorsteps. Despite this… Vlad did end up consuming their souls to take to Giratina, hoping to be a step closer to reviving the human race. This… well… Vlad was a kind hearted man, but after thousands of years of taking other's souls, and being trapped here, it starts to wear on one's psyche. One can only remain kind hearted for so long doing something like this before they break. I… I didn't want to see anymore souls getting consumed, even if it meant the revival of the human race and our freedom."

"What…? Wait… are you…?" Berry began to ask.

"But, there has been one Pokemon's soul that we could tell was not only powerful, but a blessed touched soul, they held a lot of resentment and hatred though, so much animosity and coldness, I couldn't stand to be near them…" Mimi shivered at the memory, stopping Berry from asking her question. After a couple seconds to repress the memory, Mimi continued. "That was the last time we had someone like that enter our mansion. Vlad was very upset at the missed opportunity, so finding out about you only made him more determined to have your soul."

"Is that why you invited us?" Dust asked.

"We wanted to meet with you… and…" Mimi sighed.

Because Mimi's real body was covered by the rag Pikachu doll, it was difficult to tell what her expression was, other than the two dotted eyes that were peeking from the Pikachu rag's torso. Though the head of the Pikachu rag did flop over a little.

"Originally, that was our intention, to invite you over so Vlad could bring your soul to Giratina," Mimi admitted. "But a lot of us wanted to actually talk to you first before Vlad did that, so we sent Vlad out for a while. While it's true he can't leave the mansion, he can still move outside around the garden area. We thought Vlad wouldn't be back for a while since he loves spending his time out in the garden. It was one of the few things he had left when he was human. When… when we got to talk to you two, we decided we liked you two, or at least I did. I… guess that's why I did what I did and helped you two get away. That and I don't want anymore souls consumed."

"Won't you get in trouble for helping us?" Berry asked.

Mimi stopped for a moment, as though in deep thought. "Yes, I will most likely be in trouble after what I've done. Even more so if you two manage to escape, but there's no going back now."

"Well, for what it's worth, thank you," Dust said.

"Can't you… leave?" Berry asked.

Mimi sighed. "Well…"

"There they are!" Someone shouted suddenly.

They gasped when they saw a Duskull looking at them and was alerting the others.

"Run!" Mimi shouted.

Mimi ran forward, with Dust and Berry following behind. The moment they started running, the other Ghost Pokemon started giving chase. Dust was glad Mimi was taking the lead, though was partially surprised by how fast the Mimikyu was moving. Mimi would lead them down one corredor, opening a door and entering a new room, hoping the other Ghosts would lose track of them.

"How much farther until we reach the exit?!" Dust shouted while running.

"Come on, into the Doorways of Confusion!" Mimi quickly said. "That's the best place to lose them! Just don't get lost yourself!"

"Why's it called Doorways of Confusion?" Berry asked, not liking the implications.

They soon came into a corridor that had several doors.

"Hurry, pick a door and keep moving!" Mimi shouted, seeing that they were starting to get surrounded by Duskull and Sableye.

Dust didn't know which one to pick, so he just chose one randomly, hoping it would lead to their escape. He reached for the door, opening it as soon as possible, expecting to see the outside. Instead he was met with a strange, rather embarrassing sight that caused him to blush. On the other side of the door was a bathroom with a shower, but that wasn't what made Dust blush. What made him blush was the sight of a Female Machamp singing in the shower, and what's worse was that Dust saw that she was completely naked. That was how Dust also knew she was female.

"P-pardon me, s-sorry to intrude!" Dust stuttered, trying to look away, but at the same time was too shocked to look away.

The Machamp stopped singing and turned, then she let out a scream when she saw Dust at her door, and jumped out of the shower ready to pulverize him with her four very big arms. "HOW DARE YOU! YOU PERVERT!"

"SHUT THE DOOR!" Berry screamed.

Dust quickly closed the door, followed by what could be heard as a hard slam against the door, but Dust seemed to hardly notice. He was too busy trying to purge that image from his mind, all while blushing more and more.

"Uh… q-quick, try another door!" Mimi quickly spoke up, having been a little shaken up by the image as well.

Dust reached for another door, hoping not to encounter a similar experience like last time. As he opened it, while he was glad there was no restroom this time, he was still shocked by what he saw. It looked like the outside, but somewhere completely different. It looked nice, but that wasn't what caught Dust off guard. Berry let out a gasp as well. This time they saw Mew herself cradling with a smaller blue Mew in her arms, indicating it was likely her baby. Mew blinked as she looked at them, surprised.

"Oh? Looks like I have some new playmates for my child~" Mew smiled.

"Shut the door! Shut the door! SHUT THE DOOR!" Mimi suddenly yelled.

Dust did just that, shut the door. The three blinked for a couple seconds, still recovering from the shock of seeing Mew with her child.

"Are all doors going to be like that?!" Dust finally asked.

"Unfortunately yes, unless we can find the right door. But it's always changing, not even Vlad knows which door is the right one that leads out of here," Mimi answered.

The other Ghosts looked to be confused themselves, despite Dust never going through any of the doors.

"When you open the door, you disappear," Mimi explained. "That's why they're having trouble keeping track of us."

"Then find another door quick before they see us again," Berry hissed. "Maybe we'll keep trying until we find the right door."

"Be warned, these doors could make you see things that will traumatize you," Mimi warned.

"There they are! Don't let them get away!" Sableye started to surround them, their claws ready to tear into their flesh.

"Hurry, open a door!" Mimi shouted.

Dust knew that he wouldn't be prepared for what was on the other side of these doors, but right now they didn't have much of a choice, so Dust grabbed the next door and opened it. This time there seem to be floating pieces of land, the sky looked a dark shade of green. Dust saw some figures floating in the distance, but couldn't tell what they were, but they somewhat reminded him of the Ghosts he and Berry had met earlier. Just then a figure flew by, only stopping because it had suddenly noticed Dust and the others. Dust was taken back, remembering the paintings of all the humans he had seen earlier, but he'd never expected to see one right in front of him. Though he was confused by the white hair, and the human seemed to be wearing some sort of black and white clothing, with the letter 'D' on the chest. There was also the fact the human's supposed legs were currently a single looking wispy tail that reminded Dust an awful lot of Chihiro's tail, or Phantom and Spooks' tails.

"What the…?" The maybe-human spoke up before it started flying towards them.

Mimi didn't even shout this time, she used her shadow claw to shut the door before the flying maybe-human could reach them.

"Okay, that was a human ghost," Mimi spoke up. "Or what human ghosts could've been like in another world."

Dust had questions and wanted answers. So he reached for the door again, only for Mimi to slap away his arm.

"Ow! What was that for?!" Dust asked as he held his arm.

"Don't ever open the same door," Mimi warned. "If you do, you'll end up stuck there with no way getting back!"

"Yeah, let's not do that," Berry shivered. "Try another door."

Dust nodded, now grateful for the warning. He opened the next door, revealing a empty gray room. But on closer look they noticed a lone figure in the center of the room. Clad in black clothing, the figure turning around, revealing some sort of skeleton head.

The skeleton figure began to speak in a language that Dust had never heard before in his life.

"✋︎■︎⧫︎ ︎❒︎ ︎⬧︎⧫︎ ︎■︎ ︎ ⬧︎◻︎ ︎ ︎ ︎❍︎ ︎■︎? ﾸﾎ ︎ ︎ ︎ ︎■︎❼︎⧫︎ ⧫︎ ︎ ︎■︎? ︎ ⬥︎□︎◆︎●︎ ︎ ⬧︎ ︎ ︎ □︎⧫︎ ︎ ︎❒︎⬧︎ ︎ ︎❒︎ ︎? ﾸﾎ"

"Uhhh…" Berry blinked.

"Uh-huh…" Mimi blinked as well, looking just as clueless as Dust felt.

Dust didn't even bother saying anything. He just closed the door, just as confused as the others. While he would've liked to take a moment to ponder over what he just saw, he knew they didn't have the time for that, so he already went for the next door.

"Please be the exit!" Dust shouted just before opening the next door.

When Dust opened the door, he saw the outside and was hopeful for a moment, but that quickly went away as he took more notice of this new world. Despite it apparently being the middle of the day, the sky looked bleak and gray. On the horizon he saw many ruined buildings, the wind was blowing hard, giving a chill to the air. But what disturbed Dust most was the silence, as though there was hardly any life in this world. Dust was about to close the door when something caught his attention. In the distance he saw another Absol, with it's back turned to them. Somehow it must have sensed them, for it suddenly turned, facing them. The moment Dust saw the Absol, a chill went down his spine. Despite never seeing this Absol before, Dust recognized those eyes. Those mismatched eyes that were just like his. Except when he saw the Absol's eyes, it was like staring into an empty abyss.

The Absol seemed to recognize Dust too and started walking towards the trio. "You shouldn't be here."

Dust couldn't look away, his body frozen with fear as the Absol started making his way towards them, getting closer and closer with each step. Suddenly he felt something wet hit the backside of his head, drawing his attention away from the oncoming Absol. Dust turned and saw that it was Berry who had just used Water Gun.

"Close the door!" Berry shouted.

Dust complied and did so, but just before he did, he caught one last glimpse of the Absol. He had apparently stopped and was only staring. For a brief moment, just before shutting the door completely, Dust thought he saw remorse in his eyes. After closing the door, a part of Dust wanted to open it once more, to meet this Absol, but he recalled Mimi's warning and thought better of it.

"Who was that Absol…?" Dust asked.

"It's… probably best you never find out," Mimi said softly.

"Maybe… we should try to focus on finding the right door and getting away. The ghosts may be getting confused, but they're starting to group up," Berry spoke up.

Indeed, the Duskull and Sableye were starting to group together, looking ready to strike the second they saw them.

"Noted," Dust nodded.

"Okay, from now one, no matter what strange thing is on the other side, if it isn't the exit, close the door. We don't have that much time," Mimi advised.

Dust and Berry nodded before Dust opened another door. This one was a young human man wearing a green long sleeve shirt, white gloves, a green hat with the letter 'L' at the top of it, blue overalls, and brown shoes. He was also wearing some kind of red vacuum cleaner on his back. The man looked at them, and they looked at him. The man screamed as he flashed his light in their faces. Dust quickly closed it and moved on to the next door.

Dust opened the next door. This one had a red cat-like creature that looked like it could be a Pokemon, but it wasn't any Pokemon Dust had ever seen. This cat had two tails that had green flames at the tip.

"Nya? Hey! Did you steal my choco bar!? Taste my Paws of Fury!"

Dust slammed the door in the cat's face.

The Absol went to the next one. This door showed a human boy talking to a strange orange creature that looked like it could be related to the Charmander line.

"I know the first watch can be pretty boring, Tai, but-" The 'Charmander' stopped and looked at them.

The human boy looked back at the 'Charmander' was looking at. "What kind of Digimon are they, Agumon?"

"I… don't think I've ever seen Digimon like them before," The creature called 'Agumon' answered in confusion.

Dust closed the door again, and headed to the other one. On the other side was some sort of bar, Dust saw a human sitting next to a Pikachu wearing a detective hat holding a mug.

"I keep telling you, I can quit coffee whenever I want. I just choose to drink it," The Pikachu said before noticing Dust and the others. "Um, excuse me, do you mind? We are kinda having a private discussion here."

Dust wasted no second closing the door. "Okay, I think we might be getting closer, that one had a Pokemon and didn't seem like they wanted to attack us. In fact, I feel the next door will be the one we are searching for!"

"Let's hope you're right," Berry sighed.

As soon as Dust opened the next door, he saw a huge, white empty room, with a Chameleon wearing a pair of glasses and some sort of black furred fox creature with green eyes. It almost looked similar to a Zorua, except the fur was different and it didn't have any red fur.

"Okay, so we have Dust open the door and just for laughs and giggles, he ends up seeing us," The Charmeleon suggested. "What do you think, DF?"

"I think that would be hilarious, but I do have a question. If we have Dust see us, wouldn't he, Berry, and Mimi be here right now?" The not-Zorua fox kit asked.

"Highly doubt it, this is a story we are talking about. I doubt Dust, Berry or Mimi would suddenly appear through some random door," The Charmeleon laughed.

"Umm… then were you expecting an Absol with a Goomy on its back, and a Mimikyu company today?" The fox kit asked, looking at Dust.

"What?" The Charmeleon turned to where the fox kit was looking and was surprised to see Dust. "WHAT?!"

Dust was blinking in confusion. "Uh… hello? How do you know our names? Have we met? I feel like we've met."

"You can't be here! You're not supposed to be here! How are you even here in the first place?!" The Charmeleon shouted, getting up as he started walking towards Dust and the others.

The fox kit began to type on the keyboard with her paws, then suddenly the door closed.

"Uhhhh… what was that about? Did the door just close on its own?" Berry blinked.

"I'm still trying to figure out how they knew us in the first place!" Dust replied.

"No time! The others are getting closer!" Mimi pointed out, showing that the other Ghost Pokemon were getting closer, despite them being momentarily invisible.

"Hurry, get to the other door, we must be getting closer to the right one!" Berry quickly said.

Dust ran to the next door, he gave a silent prayer to whatever deity existed out there, and opened the door. Dust blinked when he thought he was looking at a mirror, only the reflection looked a little older and more mature. But it was definitely Dust, he had the same mismatched blue and red eyes, and he didn't seem so different like that other Absol, Dust could tell this was him. And yet, there was something off besides the older and more mature looking version of him. It looked like the reflection was outside somewhere. And the reflection didn't have Berry on its back.

Both Dust and the Absol tilted their heads, both visibly confused by what they were seeing. Just as Dust looked behind him to see if Berry was still there, the other Absol did the same. When they turned to face each once more, Dust was expecting to see the same confused expression that he had, but instead the Absol was now smiling, causing Dust even more confusion.

"Ahhh, now that takes me back," The Absol said. "I still sometimes miss the way her slime would go down my back. Really refreshing on a hot day too."

Dust and Berry stared at the Absol, who had the exact same voice as Dust had.

"What…?" Berry asked. "Is this some kind of joke? Dust, is that a twin brother you never told us about?"

"Heh, not exactly," The other Absol chuckled. "Come Dust, you're smart, I know you are. Figure it out."

As Dust continued staring at this Absol, the dots started connecting in his mind, and a single idea had started to form. "Are you…-"

Before Dust could finish that sentence, a large figure towered over the Absol from behind. Berry immediately stiffened in fear, Dust's own eyes widened as well, but the other Absol didn't seem alarmed at all, not even when thick light green goo started to fall on his head and back.

The Absol looked up, wiping the slime away from part of his head to prevent it from covering the frontal area. "Though I supposed her slime will always be there. Best enjoy it now, it's gonna be getting everywhere later."

"What are you looking at?" The large Pokemon from behind the Absol asked.

The voice sounded familiar, but older and more mature sounding. Dust's eyes widened again, but for a different reason.

Then the large Pokemon picked up the other Absol with its arms, and with seeming ease. "Aww, that's adorable. It looks like they found that door in the Strange Mansion. I can't believe how much has changed since then."

"Hey! I know you like hugging a lot, but I just washed off the slime from last time. You left me covered in a pile of slime!" The Absol shouted, trying to break free from the Goodra, but in vain.

Berry nearly fell off of Dust's back in relief.

"Oh Mew, I thought we were going to witness that Goodra eating the other Absol," Berry sighed in relief. "I think one traumatic experience with a Goodra is enough for a lifetime…"

"Oh, that's right. You still had that whole fear back then," The Absol commented.

"What? Why are you making it sound like you've experienced all this with me or somethin-" Berry stopped as she looked at the Goodra that had the very Dust-like Absol in her arms.

The Goodra herself was also wearing a very familiar red scarf on her neck.

"... Close the door, Dust," Berry whispered.

"But what if they are actually our-" Dust tried to say, only for Berry to suddenly jump off his back, and tackled the door shut.

"They are not… they are NOT! They _never_ will be!" Berry quickly said, looking at Dust. "Because if they are, then… then… that would mean… You replaced me with that Goodra!"

"What?! If you are talking about that wild Goodra you encounter back then, you know I would never do that!" Dust reasoned. "Berry, you are my partner, and you know that's not gonna change."

"Then maybe that door just showed us an alternate universe, not the future!" Berry quickly said.

"It… is possible. Every door we've seen so far showed us different worlds," Mimi agreed, mostly because she wanted Berry to calm down so they could keep moving. "Nobody knows if what the doors are showing is even real or just some form of hallucinations."

Dust wanted to further talk about what they had just seen, but the look on Berry's face said otherwise. And time wasn't on their side, so Dust decided to forget about the moment for now, instead focusing on the next door.

"Well if we saw different versions of our… I mean, of myself, then that must mean we are getting close," Dust said, trying to sound optimistic.

They could see the other ghosts were closing in on them, so Dust picked Berry up and put her back on his back before he and Mimi rushed to the next door.

"I know you two are here!" They heard Vlad's voice booming in the room. "Mimi, I am disappointed in you. Why are you helping them knowing that they are the key to our freedom?"

Mimi didn't answer, instead she brought her shadowy claw in front of her body, making a quiet like gesture. Dust and Berry understood that Mimi wanted them to stay silent, knowing that Vlad would most likely find them if they made too much noise. Dust went for the next door, hoping to be the last as he opened it.

To Dust's surprise, he saw what looked like that ghost human again, only this one appeared to be a little different. His eyes were purple as opposed to the green they were earlier, he still had snow white hair, he still had white on his clothing, but instead of black, he had dark blue, and the 'D' was changed to an 'A'. The ghost human didn't seem very surprised to see them like the last one was, however, instead, he just gave them an eye roll before he pointed at a door behind them. Then, without saying anything, the ghost boy grabbed onto the doorknob and closed the door.

Dust wasn't sure what just happened, but he decided to look behind him at the door the ghost human had pointed at earlier, seeing how it appeared differently than all the other doors they had previously opened. It was unfortunate that the ghost human had already closed the door, Dust would've liked to give him thanks for helping them out. Without wasting another second, Dust went to the door, his instincts telling him that this was the door they were searching for. When he opened it, he wasn't entirely sure of what he saw, but Mimi gave him a nod of conformation before entering the room. Trusting the Mimikyu, Dust followed shortly after, closing the door behind him.

Dust saw that the room they were in looked like a child's room. There was a small bed with bedsheets that had little Pikachu on it. There were dusty shelves of toys, mostly Pokemon plushies, posters of cute Pokemon like Skitty, Vulpix, Eevee, and Lillipup. There appeared to be a TV as well, but it looked to be broken, and dusty, like someone hadn't touched it in years. The wall looked to be peeling and faded, the floor had a giant rug in the shape of a Pikachu's face. Dust couldn't help but notice a few Pichu and Pikachu plushies on the bed as well.

"Team Night Tide, welcome to my room," Mimi spoke up.

"Was not expecting to end up in your room," Dust noted. "I see that you…um… have a collection of dolls and such. I assume you are rather fond of Pikachu?"

Mimi's eyes suddenly turned into yellow stars, which startled Dust and Berry. "Fond of Pikachu? Fond of that little yellow rodent!? There's a reason why I'm wearing this Pikachu rag over my body, and it isn't for a happy reason! Why does Pikachu get all the love while I just get scrutiny!?"

"I-I didn't mean any o-offense!" Dust stuttered, realizing he must've mentioned a rather sensitive topic. "I was merely assuming, that's all."

"Please don't be mad!" Berry spoke up.

Suddenly Mimi started laughing, leaving Dust and Berry dumbfounded. "You should see the looks on your faces!"

"Wah… was this another prank?" Berry frowned.

"Yeah, sorry, I couldn't help myself. Mimikyu are usually known for wanting to dress like Pikachu to be loved. As a result though, many tend to really despise the Pikachu species due to jealousy. I'm more of a special case though," Mimi explained. "I'm not wearing this Pikachu rag because I'm jealous or want love, but because I literally can't remove it from my body."

"Unable too?" Dust excitingly asked. "Now this raises many questions. For starters-"

"I think I understand," Berry spoke up, interrupting the Absol. "When you talked about freedom, and how Vlad was disappointed in you… you were a human who lived here before the big event thing happened, weren't you?"

"You're correct, little Goomy," Mimi answered. "I was a human, specifically a young human child at the time when it happened. Which is why my room looks like it was meant for a child. I was cuddling with one of my favorite Pikachu plushies. Pikachu was one of my favorite Pokemon. I was hoping to get one for a pet one day. But when that… event happened, I had died. Not only that, but my spirit merged with the Pikachu plushy I was cuddling with, which had turned me into a Mimikyu. It's probably also the reason why I'm the only Mimikyu in this Strange Mansion. Which means I'm not only bound to this mansion, like Vlad is, but I'm also bound to this Pikachu rag I'm wearing."

"Interesting," Dust said at first, only to get nudged by Berry. "Oh, and by that I'm also sorry to hear about your situation. I can't imagine the idea of being trapped for so long. But isn't there any way to free you? One that doesn't include my soul?"

"Maybe. I had been doing some research. There wasn't a lot I could do here after all. However, I did manage to learn how to cross into the spirit world after being a ghost for so long, I've managed to talk to other spirits and Ghost type Pokemon, trying to gather as much information as I could about our… unique situation, or as I prefer to call it; our curse," Mimi stated. "The alternative way to free us is to destroy the Strange Mansion. Destroying what is keeping us bound could free us… however, there's also a chance it could destroy us instead. The Strange Mansion is also not easy to destroy. It's a ghost itself in a way. Any damages done to the Strange Mansion gets repaired in less than an hour. I suppose the best way to destroy it is to burn it down, but that is risky since we'll be trapped in the mansion while it burns. Unless you're half Fire type, us Ghost types are not immune to being burned dead."

"Hmm, to many unknown variables," Dust mumbled to himself. "If we could possibly learn more, perhaps we could find a safe solution that will minimize the risk of harming the Ghost Pokemon trapped here, while also breaking this curse. Mimi, is there anywhere in this mansion that might contain any source of information on the history of this mansion? A library? Blueprints? Anything?"

Mimi was actually quite shocked to hear this. "You don't have to help us, especially after almost having your soul taken from you. You two just need to escape, there's no reason for you two to get further involved."

"True, it would be the most logical solution. But you forget one thing, we are Crusaders!" Dust exclaimed. "If there's a chance to help, no matter how small, then you'll be expecting us to try our best and help those in need."

"But we're not even truly Pokemon, why would you want to help us?" Mimi asked.

"It doesn't matter if you're a Pokemon or human or something else entirely. You're still beings who need help, and that's enough for us," Berry answered. "Besides, knowing Dust, he'll be asking you millions of questions about humans and their culture once he's able to successfully free you."

"All the more reason to help you!" Dust added. "So, will you help us to help free you and the others?"

Mimi didn't answer at first, instead she turned away from Dust and Berry. For a moment she was trembling and Dust thought that she might have been crying, but suddenly the Mimikyu started to laugh out loud, catching both Dust and Berry off guard.

Mimi finally stopped laughing, facing Dust and Berry once more. "Man, you two are always surprising. Never would've thought any Pokemon would risk their own lives just to help a group of cursed Ghosts. Alright, I'll help."

"So do you have any ideas on what we could do to help free you from this curse?" Berry asked.

"Well, destroying the Strange Mansion is an option, but it's not a guaranteed one, and it's also dangerous for us," Mimi said. "I suppose your best and safest bet is to try to make another deal with Giratina, preferably one that doesn't include sacrificing souls. I was never really on board with that plan, but I was getting desperate when we decided to invite you two here. I'm just… glad that I was able to stop it before it was too late though. Let's hope that it's still not too late."

"How would we be able to make a deal with Giratina?" Berry asked with a frown before she looked at Dust. "You said you've met with Giratina, right? Can't you get a hold of him again or something?"

Dust shook his head. "Even if I could contact him, I have no idea how to do it in the first place," But then a thought crossed his mind as he recalled the events with the Snubbull. "Actually... there was this one time, when Brody was under the influence of Attract. It happened just before he was about to deal the finishing blow, before my ability had somehow activated. Before all that, I heard a voice, saying something about how it noticed the situation I was in and offered to help. I wasn't too sure what it meant back then, too many things were happening at once, but I think that might've been Giratina communicating with me."

"That's not surprising. Giratina is known to be the Grim Reaper of Pokemon, so it's not likely you will hear him unless you're about to die," Mimi stated.

Berry paled. "I… would rather you don't almost kill yourself again, Dust. I think there's only so many times I can watch you almost die before I completely lose it and you actually do die for good."

"Well if we could somehow contact Giratina, there might be a chance I won't have to give a deal, since I've already met with him before," Dust suggested.

"Perhaps it would be best if you figure out how to get into contact with Giratina back at your guild where it's safe. While my room is a safe haven for me, it won't stop Vlad from coming in here for long," Mimi warned. "I would rather get you two to safety first before you try to figure out any plans of setting us free. You don't need to be here specifically to try to talk to Giratina after all."

"That's a good idea. Maybe our guildmaster might know something, since she is a Ghost type herself too," Berry remarked.

Dust nodded. "I agree, she seems to have quite the extensive knowledge, and something tells me she might even know about my... encounter with Giratina."

"I wish you luck with it. But for now, we should leave. We need to get you two out of here and quickly as possible," Mimi said. "I can already sense Vlad is trying to make his way in here."

Mimi didn't bother to check outside this time, she just opened her door and hurried out. Dust quickly followed her with Berry clinging onto his back. As soon as they were out in the corridor, however, it was empty and quiet. No signs of Vlad or his Duskull and Sableye anywhere.

"I don't like this," Mimi stated. "I think Vlad is setting up an ambush for us."

"Berry, can't you sense them?" Dust asked his partner.

"No, I can't sense ghosts! You try sensing them, you're a Dark type after all, and an Absol! It's your job to sense the supernatural!" Berry replied back, trying not to freak out.

"Actually Absol has a sort of sixth sense of knowing when danger is nearby. Doesn't really apply to sensing the supernatural or any Ghosts for the matter," Dust corrected before gulping as he started to tremble a bit. "But doesn't mean my instincts aren't going crazy. I may not be that experienced when it comes to sensing oncoming danger, but right now, it's screaming, telling me to run."

"You two, be ready for a battle in case my hunch is right," Mimi warned.

Berry was shivering, she was scared. Dust remembered the last time they fought with a Ghost type, it nearly drained him dry.

_Come on Dust, it won't do no good if we are all too afraid to move. For once start acting like a Dark type. Remember what truly terrifies you! _Dust thought to himself as he pictured a mental image of his mother just as she's about to give him punishment. As he focused more and more, he started to tremble less and less. _That's right, compared to her, this is nothing._

Dust was finally able to stop shaking, using his past experiences with his mother as a source of courage to draw from. Turning towards Berry, he gave her a reassuring smile. "Berry, don't worry. We'll definitely get out of here. You have my word."

"How… how do you know?" Berry asked.

"We've dealt with worse," Dust said. "I know it seems bad now, but we've survived worse, Berry."

This got the Goomy to stop trembling as she recalled that time she went into a dangerous dungeon on her own, facing a powerful dragon she had no chance of winning while also trying to protect her brother. Compared to that, here, she had Dust with her, and a friendly Mimikyu who was willing to help them. She didn't have to be the brave one, or the strong one this time. While the Dusknoir may be powerful, she and Dust had gotten more powerful since they joined the Unity Guild. They had a chance here, unlike when Berry was facing the Goodra.

"You're right… you're right…" Berry took a deep breath and let it out. "We… we have a chance here."

Mimi looked at the doors that would lead to the exit. "Well, you two, better get your items organized and your battle plan ready. If Vlad decides to surround us when we head for the door, we need to be ready."

"Are you going to be fighting with us too?" Berry asked.

"I may have to," Mimi answered in a soft tone. "If it means saving you two and getting our freedom without needing to sacrifice anyone, I'm willing to take it, even if it means turning against my own… kin."

Dust closed his eyes for a moment, hoping to reach that familiar feeling, to be able to somehow activate his ability just like during his sparring match with Berry. But as he focused, he couldn't sense that sensation anywhere. He tried harder, but to no avail.

_I was hoping I might've been able to use it by now, but looks like I'll need more practice in the future... If there is one. _Dust quickly shook his head, trying to get rid of any doubts in his mind. _No! Don't think that. Even if I can't use my ability, we still have a chance to escape._

"Mimi, thank you for helping us. You have already risked so much just by helping us get this far, we wouldn't be here if it wasn't for you," Dust said.

"Thank me after we get you two out of here," Mimi replied. "Do you think you're ready?"

"Dust, what items did you bring?" Berry asked.

Dust looked at Berry, giving her a smile as he showed her the contents inside the bag. "A few Oran Berries and Apples. We should be able to hold on our own with these."

Berry could see a Totter Orb, a Sleep Seed, and a Blast Seed as well, but she figured Dust didn't want to say he had those due to the possibility of being watched. They didn't bring a lot of items with them, mostly due to the fact they didn't know they'd be going into battle.

"Alright…" Berry took another breath and let it out. "I'm as ready as I'll ever be."

"Then let's head for the exit," Mimi said.

The three of them slowly and cautiously made their way towards the doors that lead outside of the Strange Mansion. However, just as Mimi had suspected, it was suddenly blocked by a dark shield. Then Sableye and Duskull suddenly appeared around them.

"Mimi, I'm disappointed in you," Vlad said as he slowly floated down from the ceiling. "We're close to regaining our freedom from this prison of a mansion, and reviving the human race that was lost thousands of years ago. And yet… you chose to throw away all of that because you felt a bit of sympathy for these two Pokemon who couldn't possibly understand our plight."

"It's called having a heart, Vladimir," Mimi spoke up boldly. "While I want to leave the Strange Mansion as much as everyone else here, I'm not willing to throw my heart away to do so. I will retain whatever humanity I have left in this ghost-like body, even if it means being trapped here for eternity."

"You are free to do whatever you wish, my dear child," Vlad spoke with condescendence. "But not everyone here shares your _heart. _Everyone wishes for their freedom, and yet you get to decide their fate? Very selfish that you wish to keep everyone trapped here along with you, just for the sake of keeping your humanity. We have none! Ever since that day we've been cursed with these bodies, forever trapped within this mansion. So I will only say this once. Bring the Absol to me, and all will be forgiven."

Dust and Berry remained silent. They couldn't afford Mimi to turn on them now, especially since she was part Fairy type herself. Even with their new moves, Mimi would be difficult to take down if she decided to fight against them. But it would also hurt to have her turn against them since she had been helping them throughout the ordeal.

Mimi turned to Dust and Berry. "Team Night Tide… You told me that once you leave here, you will find a way to free us from this mansion and our binds to Giratina. And I believe that. I will put my faith in the two of you."

Dust and Berry smiled at Mimi, grateful for her faith in them. But suddenly Vlad bursted out laughing. "You honestly believe these two find a way to break our curse? Giratina had already told us how to break this curse. Bring those whose souls have been blessed by the Legendary Pokemon themselves. Right in front of us, not only has he been blessed, but it was by Giratina himself. This has been a curse on us for thousands of years, Mimi, your child-like ideals will not break it. So let go of your childish ways, Mimi, it's time you grew up and understand that your actions have consequences."

"I'm thousands of years old, Vlad, I'm no longer that same child who died thousands of years ago," Mimi hissed. "Unlike you, however, I didn't go down a dark path by making a deal with the Pokemon most considered as the devil. I have hope that there are better ways to free us, even if it means relying on outside help that isn't Girainta!"

All the Ghosts gasped and for a moment Vlad had dropped his composure. "Sacrilege! Don't you dare tarnish the name of Giratina. He is a deity who has given us a chance to free ourselves of this curse. I have been patient, hoping you would end this childish ruse, but no more. You leave me no choice. Get them!"

The Sableye and Duskull all let out a bone chilling laugh as they readied themselves for battle. The Sableye's gem-like eyes sparkled with delight.

With that, the battle for their souls had begun. Dust immediately fired his Ice Beam, hitting a few Duskull and Sableye, freezing them solid. The others quickly jumped out of the way and started charging towards them. But before they could reach Dust, Mimi slashed at them, using Shadow Claw and knocking them back. With her extended shadowy claw, it was easy for Mimi to slash multiple other Ghost types at once. Unfortunately, Sableye, being part Dark type, resisted the Shadow Claw better than the Duskull did.

Berry shot out a Dragon Breath attack at an incoming Sableye that was about to use Fury Swipes on Dust's head, pushing it back. But despite her best efforts, she was soon tackled off of Dust by another Sableye.

"There's too many to keep track of!" Berry called out before a Duskull floated over her, its glowing light inside its skull glowed brighter. "Oh no…"

Mimi suddenly sunk into the shadows and grabbed onto Berry before the Duskull's glowing eye could completely flash itself in front of Berry, dragging the Goomy away before coming back up from the shadows.

"Be careful, you don't want to get caught up in the Duskull's Confuse Ray," Mimi warned.

Another Sableye jumped at Mimi, summoning silver gem-like energy around it. Mimi looked at the Sableye for a second before she suddenly summoned the same silver gem-like energy around her. Both Power Gem attacks cancelled each other out.

"These Sableye are tricky, they're part Dark type, meaning my Ghost type attacks would only do neutral damage," Mimi muttered.

"Me and Berry don't know any effective moves against them either," Dust added, but then a thought came to mind. "Wait, Mimikyu are part Fairy. Mimi, use your Fairy attacks on them!"

"Uh, yeah, about that…" Mimi frowned. "I… don't have any."

"What? What do you mean you don't have any?" Berry frowned.

"Excuse me, I don't exactly train myself to fight here!" Mimi grumbled. "It takes a strong Mimikyu to learn a Fairy type attack!"

While they were yelling, more Sableye and Duskull began to surround them. Mimi paled when she saw blue fire beginning to surround the Duskull.

"Will-O-Wisp… Dust, Berry, do either of you have a move or an item that can affect all enemies in a room? If you do, I suggest you use it now!" Mimi warned.

Dust grinned as he reached inside his bag. "As a matter of fact, we actually do!" Dust reached for the Totter Orb, throwing it at the group of Ghost Pokemon that were preparing Will-O-Wisp.

"Watch out!" Vlad shouted, but it was too late.

The orb shattered in front of them, causing a momentary flash of light. All the Ghost Pokemon caught in the blast were now stumbling, trying to regain their balance while others had either tripped or bumped into one another. Those who were still preparing Will-O-Wisp couldn't stop now and ended up launching the fire attack on each other. This caused the other Duskull or Sableye that were hit by the Will-O-Wisp to get burned.

Vlad, however, either wasn't affected by the Totter Orb's effects or recovered much quicker than the others. In his frustration at seeing his Ghost army being confused, he flew at Dust, Berry, and Mimi. He pulled back an arm, coating his fist with electricity, then he punched Dust hard in the chest, sending him back a few feet while being shocked by the electricity.

"That should keep him down for the time being," Vlad said, noticing that Dust hadn't gotten up. "Now time to deal with his partner, and a traitor."

Vlad then fades into the shadows while giving a low chuckle. Mimi, knowing what Vlad was trying to do, went into the shadows herself to try to get to him before he got to Berry. Berry, not being able to see where Vlad would pop up, quickly hopped over to Dust. She looked him over before she reached into his bag to take something out.

Both Mimi and Vlad came out of the wall that was close to Berry and Dust, Mimi had her Shadow Claw against Vlad's Shadow Punch. The Mimikyu's claw holding back against the fist covered with ghostly energy. Both Pokemon fell to the ground, letting go of each other's'hands'.

"For someone who claimed to not have trained to battle, you sure do put up an annoying fight," Vlad hissed.

Berry looked at the Ghost types. Seeing her chance to attack, Berry shot out a Dragon Breath attack at Vlad's back.

Vlad shouted in pain before he turned to face Berry. "It's always one nuisance after the other!"

Vlad charged at Berry once more, but instead of using Shadow Punch like last time, this time his arm was covered in ice as he prepared to use Ice Punch.

"Berry!" Mimi shouted in alarm before she quickly went into the shadows to use Shadow Sneak in order to move past Vlad quickly and pop up in front of the surprised Goomy.

"Mimi!?" Berry yelled in shock.

Vlad brought out his icy fist, hitting Mimi's Pikachu's rag head with his Ice Punch. Mimi was thrown back a little, but she used her claws to dig into the floor, stopping herself from being thrown back too far.

"Mimi, are you okay?" Berry asked in concern, seeing the Pikachu rag's head now limping on the ground.

Mimi, on the other hand, seemed perfectly fine even if the rag she was wearing looked to have broken a little. "I'm fine, he didn't damage me, just my Pikachu costume. It'll fix itself after a while."

"A very fine ability," Vlad admitted. "But we both know it will take time for you to be able to use it again, and I highly doubt you'll be so lucky a second time."

A Sableye, who had snapped out of the confusion earlier than the others, went over to Berry and Mimi. The Sableye's gem-like eyes sparked at Berry for a second, making Berry shake her head. She tried to fire a Dragon Breath at the Sableye, but nothing came out of her mouth.

"Wah…? What happened to my Dragon Breath?" Berry asked.

"It must've used Disable on you." Mimi frowned. "This isn't good, the others are starting to snap out of their confusion."

"What!? That means I can't use Dragon Breath anymore?" Berry gasped.

"It's temporary, but I'm not sure how long you'll be unable to use it," Mimi explained.

The other Ghost types were starting to snap out of confusion and were starting to surround Berry, Mimi, and the still down Absol.

Vlad started clapping slowly. "A valiant effort, but try as you may, eventually you will lose. How about saving yourself the trouble and just surrender. All I truly want is the Absol, give him up now and I'll let you go."

Berry slithered in front of Dust protectively. "Never!"

Berry took a deep breath before spitting out a purple ball of sludge at Vlad's face, causing the sticky poison to stick to his eye.

Vlad screamed as he tried wiping the poison substance from his eye. "You had your chance! Finish them!"

Vlad was close to Berry and Dust as the other Ghost types began to float towards them. Berry moved back before Mimi suddenly got in front.

"Oh? Who will you be finishing off?" Mimi asked sweetly before there were suddenly hundreds of her all over the place.

The other Ghost Pokemon were surprised and confused as to how Mimi managed to duplicate herself. All the copies suddenly launched out their shadow claws at the other ghosts, making them take cover from the attack.

As the Ghosts were all distracted with the copies of Mimi, Vlad had managed to wipe away some of the sludge that was stuck in his eyes. While it still stung, he was able to see all the Mimis holding back the other Ghosts, but his attention turned towards Berry and Dust. Becoming irritated, he readied another Ice Punch and rushed towards Berry. Vlad was so focused on Berry that he didn't notice Dust getting up until the Absol faced him.

Dust knew he had only a few seconds before Vlad noticed. His body was slightly numb from the Thunder Punch he received earlier, but thanks to his past experience with electric Pokemon, he was able to recover quickly. Instead of joining back into the fight, an idea had come across his mind. He had taken the Blast Seed and consumed it, but instead of letting out the sudden burst of energy in his mouth, he decided to hold it in as long as possible until the right moment.. It felt as if the insides of his mouth were on fire, his body sweating from holding it inside for a while now. He barely could hold it in, but with Vlad currently distracted, Dust saw this was the perfect opportunity to release his attack.

Just as Vlad was about to land his attack on Berry, Dust had opened his mouth, releasing all the pent up energy inside. Time seemed to slow down for Vlad, only having a second to realize what Dust was about to do, but could do nothing to stop it. The blast of exploding fire sent Vlad flying backwards towards the doors that were blocked by the barrier. The force of the collision caused the barrier to shatter. Everyone else was knocked back by the sheer force of the attack, even Dust and Berry flew back a few feet from the blast. Heavy smoke covered the area, blocking everyone's vision.

Dust ears were ringing, he tried calling out to Berry in front of him, but couldn't even hear his own voice.

Vlad was yelling something. While the Blast Seed and shattering the barrier on the door seemed to have hurt the Dusknoir pretty badly, he was still floating and conscious. Dust couldn't hear what he was saying, but he knew he was yelling at the other Ghosts to do something.

Berry looked to be disorientated herself, she turned to Dust, surprised to see him conscious. Mimi sank into the shadows, her illusionary copies of herself disappearing. Suddenly, there were bright purple flames around them. Dust could see Litwik, Lampent, and Chandalure coming into the room. They were all looking at them hungrily.

When Dust could hear again, he could hear Vlad laughing. "That's right! Take the Absol and Goomy's souls!"

Mimi came up from the shadows in front of Dust and Berry. "I'm sorry. You must escape."

Mimi grabbed both Dust and Berry with her claws. Her claws were digging into Dust's fur. Dust knew Mimi meant no harm though, she had to act fast, and gripping onto them tightly was the best way to execute her plan. The Mimikyu jumped towards Vlad and the door. Vlad looked up at the incoming Mimikyu, shocked as he could see underneath her Pikachu cloth, a couple of red eyes glowing a crimson red and yellow at him. Mimi threw Dust and Berry at the door, just as two of her claws grabbed onto Vlad and pulled him under her Pikachu cloth. The Pikachu cloth had expanded to accommodate for Vlad's size.

"Both of you get out of here, now!" Mimi shouted as there was a lot of struggling going on under her Pikachu cloth.

Dust's mind was telling him to go, that this was their only chance of escaping, but his body wasn't moving. He knew that Mimi wouldn't be able to hold Vlad for long, and that they should escape, but the thought of leaving her behind now made him hesitate. He looked back at Berry and saw how worried she was about Mimi. Dust wanted to turn back and help Mimi, but he knew that this was going to be a losing battle.

Unfortunately, Dust and Berry hesitated too long, Vlad managed to escape out of Mimi's cloth, and was launching himself at the two of them. With his fists covered in both shadow and ice, Vlad punched Vlad and Berry at the same time. Both Berry and Dust hit the ground hard. Dust's satchel opened up, causing a few Oran Berries to roll out. Dust tried to grab one of the Oran Berries, but the Litwik nearby burned up the berries quickly, ensuring Dust and Berry wouldn't be able to recover from their injuries.

"You will not escape," The Litwick hissed menacingly.

Berry weakly looked up, seeing Vlad hovering over the Absol. Dust tried to move, but then four Sableye pinned him down, each holding down one of his limbs.

"Can't have you running on us now. Chandelure, begin the process!" Vlad called down one of the Chandelure as they floated towards Dust.

"No… stop it, Vlad, think about what you're doing. Your past self would be horrified at what you're doing right now," Mimi begged, struggling to move from the floor. Her struggle with Vlad had left her weakened.

Dust felt something hot trying to invade his very being at the Chandelure's purple flame burned bright in front of him. It began to let out a hum of some kind as it started to burn his soul.

Berry began to pull out a seed from her scarf, having taken it out from Dust's bag earlier.

"What I do is for the benefit of everyone here. I've worked too hard, too long to stop now. And I know my past self would approve," Vlad said before his expression softened for a moment as he turned to face Mimi. "Despite your action tonight, when all this is over and we are finally free, I'll still forgive you. So instead of dismay, you should be rejoicing."

Berry looked down at the seed in her antenna. She had been hoping to save it for the Dusknoir, but with how Dust was crying out in pain and agony, she didn't think she could wait any longer.

"Let him go!" Berry yelled before she threw the seed at the humming Chandelure.

The seed, as soon as it touched the Chandelure, broke suddenly and released a puff of pink smoke all over the Chandelure. The Chandelure stopped humming suddenly, then fell to the floor, its yellow eyes closed, seeming to be asleep.

"Someone hold her down!" Vlad shouted as he saw what Berry had done. A Duskull and Saleye pounced on Berry before she could move, holding her in place. "Looks like I have to be the one to finish the job. Young Absol, I do apologize in advance. If you thought you felt pain now, then this will be Distortion World for you."

As Vlad floated towards Dust, he summoned a big rusty nail. Dust instantly recognized what Vlad was planning on using, having read about the move once before. Dust struggled even harder, trying to break free from the Sableye that held him down, but to no avail.

Vlad then held open his arms, while holding the rusty nail above his head. "Giratina! Long ago you have tasked us to bring unto you souls that have been blessed by those of higher Power, in return you promise to break this curse that was placed upon us. We have diligently followed your command all these years, and now we bring unto you this final offering. This Absol has been blessed by you, and through fate has come to us. We understand this is a blessing from you, a chance to finally break our curse. With this final act, I offer his soul unto you!"

With that Vlad thrust the nail against his body, feeling immense pain. Dust felt something stab his very soul, his very being felt the long rusty nail go through as Vlad continued to press it against his own body. Dust screamed out loud, the pain he felt earlier from Chandelure was nothing compared to this. But despite all his screaming, Vlad continued to press the nail against his body.

"Worry not, young Absol," Vlad managed to say through his own pain. "Once the nail is completely in, your suffering shall be over."

"STOP IT! LET HIM GO!" Berry screamed out in a fit of rage.

A sudden downpour began to flood the mansion, causing all the Litwick, Lampent, and conscious Chandelure to fly away from the room. Berry then shot out powerful gushes of water at the Ghosts around her, practically drowning them each. She didn't stop shooting out water from her mouth. The water turned condensed and powerful before they began to emit rings of water and waves. Some of the Ghosts that were hit by the water attack became confused.

Vlad stopped for a moment as he was taken by surprise by the Goomy's sudden powerful water attacks. The sudden downpour in the mansion, the flooding, and the powerful water attacks pushing back his ghost army was not something he suspected happening from this supposed weak Pokemon.

"Impressive," Vlad acknowledged. "I was planning on keeping your soul for myself, but I think Giratina would appreciate it if I offered your soul as a gift to him."

Vlad lifted Berry up with Curse, intending to use another nail. Berry glared heatedly at the Dusknoir. Despite being in Vlad's hold, however, the Goomy was able to open her mouth. Vlad could see a blue orb being condensed in her mouth.

"No, stop! Right now!" Vlad commanded.

Berry let out a cry as she shot out the powerful blue Dragon Breath attack at Vlad. The attack engulfed Vlad's body, forcing him to let go of the Goomy. Unfortunately for Berry, her outburst had a time limit. After unleashing her Dragon Breath, she felt completely exhausted and her body slumped down on the flooded ground. Berry saw Vlad's body on the ground and was hoping that he would stay down. A few seconds passed by and Berry started to think that she had succeeded but a chilling laughter shattered what little hope she had left.

"A valiant effort, but in the end it was all for nothing," Vlad slowly got up, wincing from the pain, but still able to move. He then started floating towards Berry while summoning a rusty nail, raising it as he prepared to finish the job. "But this night has run its course, and I think it's time to end it."

Vlad was about to thrust the nail when a voice suddenly boomed through the room, causing him to stop.

"Enough!" A voice shouted.

The air had suddenly grown colder, Berry was able to see her own breath from the sudden drop in temperature. She felt a new presence in the room, one that was exerting so much pressure that it was causing her so tremble. At first she thought it might have been another ally of Vlad, but when she looked at the Dusknoir, she saw that he too was trembling.

A familiar white figure stood up and walked towards Vlad. Vlad turned around, and was shocked to see Dust had just walked over to him despite the Curse. Berry was surprised too, but she felt too weak to speak.

"How? Who or what are you?" Vlad started to ask, causing Dust to grin.

"Really Vlad? After putting so much dedication to your sacrifice you don't recognize the very being you were performing for in the first place?" Dust asked as he continued to exert his pressure.

Realization dawned upon Vlad and he promptly fell to the ground in a bowing position. "Please forgive me, I never would have imagined to be visited by you. Had I known that you'd be coming I would have better prepared-"

"Silence!" Dust shouted, causing Vlad to immediately cease talking.

Dust's eyes were glowing an unnatural red. He was not himself at the moment. This Absol, whoever he was, looked around the room before finally resting his eyes on Berry. Berry, despite not being able to move, did slide back a little when not-Dust's eyes were on her.

"Vlad, have someone tend to the Goomy's injuries. I wish to speak with her later," The Absol commanded.

"Y-yes, Lord Giratina!" Vlad quickly said with a bow.

When Vlad looked around to find someone to heal Berry, he saw only the wet Mimikyu was still here. The other Ghosts had either been knocked unconscious or fled the room. Mimi managed to get back up, using her claws to push the head of her Pikachu cloth back up as well.

"Mimi! Quick, tend to the Goomy!" Vlad hastily said, not wanting to keep the Absol waiting any longer.

"Yes, of course," Mimi sighed in relief, glad that Vlad was not attacking them anymore.

Mimi went over to the exhausted Berry. While Mimi may not be a healing Pokemon, she had a long time to practice medicine in her afterlife as a Mimikyu. She scooped up what was left of the Oran Berries that the Litwick burned. There were bits of Oran Berry juice mixed with water. She used that to rub against Berry's gooey skin, letting the Oran Berry juices help heal the Goomy's wounds.

Though Berry still felt tired, she was able to at least sit up easier. "Thanks, Mimi…"

"No problem, just take it easy right now. I'm not sure if we are exactly out of trouble yet," Mimi warned.

Vlad was still stiffly bowing to the Absol, who walked over to Berry after Mimi finished up healing her. Mimi moved away, seeing how 'Dust' wanted to talk to Berry, though she was a bit wary of who had taken over Dust's body.

"I was wondering when we would meet, while unexpected, I have been curious what Dust's partner would be like. You may have heard of me, most likely from Dust or a few others. I am Giratina," Giratina spoke through Dust.

Berry looked at Dust. While it wouldn't have been easy for someone to just believe someone they knew was possessed by another, it was very clear this wasn't Dust right now. He had such a powerful presence that Dust himself couldn't even compare as he was now. And the glowing red eyes also indicated he was definitely not Dust. But Berry didn't expect it to be Giratina of all Pokemon.

"S-so… Vlad succeeded… in summoning you… to take Dust's soul?" Berry asked softly, sounding worried and heartbroken.

Giratina groaned as he shook his head. "Far from it. I've already had warned the Absol to be more careful, and already he's almost gotten himself killed...again. I'm not here to take Dust's soul but to help with the current situation."

"But why, my lord?!" Vlad asked only to receive a glare from Giratina.

The Absol turned towards Vlad as his expression softened. "Vlad, I had given you a chance to help yourself and the others, but instead you only caused much suffering."

"W-what do you mean?" Vlad asked. "We've been doing what you told us to do all those years ago. Bring forth powerful souls, ones who have been blessed by the Legendary Pokemon themselves,"

Giratina shook his head once more before replying. "You had misunderstood. At the time I tasked you to bring forth those with human souls, human souls are what's needed to rebuild the lost human race. But because of your misunderstanding, you caused suffering for many others as you and the residence here continued to feed your greed and selfish desires."

"Then why show up now? Why not come before and correct us?" Vlad asked.

"I could not interfere. You had chosen this path and I could not change it. That is until this Absol and his partner had shown up." Giratina explained. "I had blessed this Absol, giving him a part of me to help him survive."

Giratina then turned back to Berry, giving her his full attention.

"And I'm sure you have other questions that are on your mind," Giratina said before groaning once more. "But if they are anything like Dust's, I swear to Arceus that… Just ask any questions that are appropriate and I'll answer where I can. While amusing as it was last time, I would rather not go through that again."

Berry couldn't help but imagine Dust asking Giratina all sorts of trivial questions. While she did have a lot, there were only a few she really wanted to ask right now. "Is Dust going to be okay?"

"Yes, he'll be fine, though most likely unconscious once I return," Giratina answered.

Berry sighed in relief at that, before she decided to ask her next question. "Are the Ghost Pokemon… the spirits of the humans in this mansion still going to be trapped here?"

"Yes. I had told them what they needed to do in order to be free," Giratina answered.

"But… is it possible to free them? Do they have to be trapped here until they gather those human souls? They can't leave the mansion, how could they gather souls?" Berry asked. "It… really isn't fair to them. They were only living like we were when they suddenly died in this mansion."

Giratina noticed Berry's disappointment and took a moment to look around the room once more. "...You do make a fair point. Now that I'm here, I think it's time I did something about this mansion."

At first Berry thought that she had convinced Giratina and that he would break the curse. But suddenly the entire mansion started to shake.

"They have caused suffering for others and themselves. So I will end their suffering by destroying this mansion taking each ghost here to the afterlife," Giratina explained.

"P-please, wait!" Mimi squeaked.

"No, stop! Don't do that, please! At least let Mimi go free, she did nothing wrong. She was only a little girl!" Berry quickly spoke up.

Giratina didn't appear to be listening, however, which made Berry do something she never thought she would do to someone like Giratina. She sprayed him with a water move, it wasn't quite Water Gun however, it was more like a gush of a watery ball that exploded in Giratina's face.

The mansion suddenly stopped shaking and Giratina turned his attention towards Berry, giving her a questioning glare. "You have guts, I'll give you that. So you say the Mimikyu should go free, for doing nothing wrong? Tell me, had she helped all those other Pokemon that were sacrificed before you two came? Did she play a hand in sacrificing others? Even if she did nothing, that would mean she just watched as others suffered. So I'll ask again, why should I let one prisoner free, when she is just as guilty as the rest?"

"If they have all sinned, then can't you have them redeem themselves? Make up for their sins? They have been trapped here for… many years. They were desperate. At least give them a chance, is all I ask. Give them a chance to earn back their freedom and make up for what they had done wrong," Berry bowed her head and begged. "Please, Girainta?"

"Very well," Giratina, through Dust's body, gave an unsettling grin. Then with a booming voice, he addressed all the residents within the mansion. "Those of you who used to be humans, who's souls still bind them to their past, the task I have given you is still in effect. Those who bring me a human soul shall be free from this curse! So who among you will make the sacrifice for freedom? Vlad, will you sacrifice yourself and others, that the rest may be free?"

The other Ghost Pokemon that were living in the mansion all appeared at once. Many of them had been observing that battle while invisible, neither battling with Vlad, nor helping Team Night Tide. They were all looking at each other nervously. None of them wanted to give up their soul while everyone else got to go free.

Vlad began to answer when Mimi suddenly spoke up. "Sacrifice me! Everyone had been waiting a long time to leave this mansion. I almost took away that chance from them. If anyone should be sacrificed, it should be me. Maybe then they can remember what it was like to have a heart."

"So you are willing to sacrifice your soul, when you are this close to freedom?" Giratina asked, watching the Mimikyu closely.

"All you need is one human soul and everyone goes free, right?" Mimi asked. "While I don't want to give up my soul, I've lived far longer than any human ever had in their lifetime. If giving you my soul will free everyone here, then I'm ready to sacrifice myself. I don't want to see everyone sacrificing their own hearts just for a chance of freedom."

Giratina stared at Mimi for a minute now, taking in everything the Mimikyu said. He gave a nod before he walked up to Mimi. "So be it."

Giratina raised Dust's right foreleg as it gave an eerie glow. The other Ghost Pokemon could only watch in suspense. Some were saddened that Mimi would be sacrificed, but most were more glad to almost be free. But suddenly, just as Giratina was about to touch Mimi, the glow disappeared from his arm as he placed his paw on top of Mimi's head, giving her a gentle pat, or at least the head of her Pikachu costume.

"Perhaps not all human souls are greedy," Giratina said as he smiled. "Young Mimikyu, after all these years you were able to retain what remained of your pure heart. If you were able to achieve such a thing, then perhaps there is still hope for them even now."

Mimi gave a confused look at Giratina under her Pikachu cloth. "Aren't you… going to take my soul?"

Giratina shook his head. "I was never planning on taking anyones' soul. Honestly I was expecting no one to offer themselves as a sacrifice. Humans have always been a greedy, selfish race. Even now, the damages they have done are burned into my memory. But then you readily offer yourself with no hesitation. Mimi, because of your selfless decisions, I will free you from this curse."

Everyone was shocked to hear this. Giratina had Dust's eyes glow and Mimi's body glowed red. A purple aura surrounded Mimi for a moment, before it condensed itself into a dark ball, then the dark ball shattered, leaving Mimi's body in a yellow light before it faded.

"So… I'm actually free…?" Mimi said, almost as if she couldn't believe it herself.

"Yes, you are free to leave this mansion whenever you wish," Giratina confirmed.

"W-wait… what about the others?" Mimi asked.

After seeing what just happened to Mimi, all the other Ghosts started surrounding Giratina, all speaking at the same time, begging to be free, some saying that they were about to offer themselves, others saying that they were willing to do anything to be free. Giratina caused Dust's eyes to give a fierce glow as he glared at each of them, forcing them to be silent and backing away from Giratina.

"Do you think I don't know the intentions of your heart?" Giratina questioned. "As I said, I had expected none of you to offer yourselves as a sacrifice, I sensed all the fear, doubt, and selfishness within. Had it not been for Mimi and Berry, I would've proceeded to drag you all to the Distortion World!"

"T-then… what do you plan to do with us, Lord Giratina?" Vlad spoke up, fearing what the answer might be.

"As I mentioned before, everyone has sinned, and I cannot look past that. But to punish you all without the chance to redeem yourself would be far more crueler than what you all have experienced so far. So I will have everyone work for me as they, to make up for all the suffering and sins they have committed. And once they have proven themselves worthy, then they shall truly be free."

"Work for you? You mean… like those other Ghost types who bring in the dead?" A Litwick asked.

"But how can we do that if we're bound to this mansion?" A Sableye questioned.

Giratina's eyes glowed for a moment, causing the whole mansion to shake, but only for a short moment. "I have weakened the hold of this curse on you. You will be able to leave the Mansion and do my bidding, but that doesn't mean you are entirely free. The curse will force you to return to the mansion, no matter how far you go. But the more you redeem yourselves, prove to me how worthy you can be, the longer you may be able to leave the mansion, until you are completely free."

All the Ghost Pokemon agreed to Giratina's terms. As long as they had a chance of being free, they didn't care how long it would take, they at least had hope now. Vlad floated over to Berry and Mimi before giving a bow of his head.

"Mimi… Goomy… Thank you both for this chance. I shouldn't have tried to sacrifice the Absol and the Goomy. Lord Giratina, I cannot thank you enough for this chance to allow us to redeem ourselves, and gain a chance for freedom," Vlad said.

"Unfortunately Vlad, I have other plans for you," Giratina spoke up, catching the Dusknoir's attention. "I remember first meeting you, and I actually had high hopes for you when I had originally given you this task. But then I saw how quickly your heart had succumbed to greed. Your sins are too great for you to redeem yourself on your own."

Vlad, although he lacked a facial feature, Berry could easily tell became extremely glum and troubled. "So… I have fallen too far to ever be free?"

Giratina shook his head once more. "I never said that. I only said that on your own, you would not be able to redeem yourself. The curse of this Mansion has a strong hold on you, even with my intervention you would still not be able to go to the outside world. That is why I will be taking you with me."

"You'll be taking me with you… back to the Distortion World?" Vlad questioned.

Giratina nodded. "Not as a prisoner or to be tortured. But to assist me there. Too long have I worked alone, perhaps having someone else there will help lighten the load. If you are willing? This won't be an easy task, you may come to regret this decision, but it is the only way to earn your freedom. So do you accept my offer?"

"Whatever it would take to earn my freedom, I will do what I must, Lord Giratina," Vlad promised with conviction. "Even if it will take me another century or longer, I will do it."

"I had a feeling you would say that," Giratina said before turning his attention to Berry. "Does that satisfy you now?"

Berry gave a bow of her head. "Yes… thank you very much for this, Giratina. I'm very happy that you were willing to give them all another chance."

"Not that we don't appreciate it… but why did you beg Lord Giratina to help us after all we've done to you?" A Sableye asked.

"Because I'm a Crusader, a Crusader's job is to help other Pokemon, even if they were human before. What kind of Crusader would I be if I didn't at least try to help you?" Berry answered with a sheepish smile.

"A hypocrite," Giratina said, catching Berry's attention once more. "But so far neither you or Dust have seemed to disappoint, so I have no reason to think that. Berry, our time grows short and I'll have to return soon, if you have no more questions, then I will be on my way."

"Oh… I do have a few questions. Like… how are you able to take over Dust's body?" Berry asked. "Couldn't you have come here yourself to talk to these Ghosts?"

"I am not allowed to interfere with the living, unless it deals with one's death. When Dust had almost died last time, I had given a part of my soul into his, otherwise Dust would not have survived, even with the cure you had brought. You see, the soul, while strong and powerful, can also be fragile," Giratina explained. "Those who almost died the first time but survive have their souls somewhat shaken, or partially cracked. No one is ever truly the same after their first time. But if they were to almost die a second time, their souls would be too damaged, having already gone through the process before. If by chance they are able to survive, I give them a part of my soul, to help their's become stable enough to survive."

Berry frowned. "What… would happen if the soul almost dies a third time?"

"You're witnessing it right now," Giratina said. "The soul is no longer able to hold itself together, the only part that is left is me. If I had shown up a second later, Dust's soul would have truly been lost. While weakened, he will recover. Which is why I want you to pass on this warning to him once he recovers. I had already told him that I would only help once, back when he was fighting against that Lucario, this time he was cutting it really close. I won't be able to intervene next time, if I do, Dust would be no more and there will be nothing I can do to stop it."

Berry frowned more at hearing that. "I… understand. Thank you for the warning."

Giratina smiled at Goomy. "Don't fret, young dragon, your friend is still growing, as are you. I've already seen signs of the gift I left him growing, and with you by his side, I can see him being far safer than if he was left on his own. But alas, our time is short. Any longer and I'm afraid Dust's soul will be no more. I do look forward to meeting you again, Berry. I sense many things in your future, both great and dangerous things. You'll come to learn many things about yourself, many that you might regret learning."

Before Berry could even ask what Giratina meant, he turned away and walked towards Vlad. Raising a claw, Giratina opened up a black shadow portal.

"I'll be expecting you soon, Vlad," Giratina said as Vlad bowed in return. He then addressed everyone. "As for everyone else, I will contact you later in the future with details of your jobs. Until then, au revoir!"

"Giratina… I just wanted to say… while the human race may not have always been the best of examples, there were humans who had pure hearts and got along with Pokemon. Stories of heroes and human Trainers who work alongside their Pokemon," Mimi said softly. "I hope one day you'll be able to see that kind of harmony again between human and Pokemon."

At first, Giratina doesn't reply as he stared at Mimi. But then he gives a small smile to the Mimikyu. "Perhaps one day...one day."

With that Giratina releases one final pulse of energy, causing everyone to cover their eyes. Once it had passed, they all sensed that Giratina was no longer their, his presence gone from them. Dust, who had been standing only seconds ago, collapsed on the ground.

"Dust!" Berry quickly slithered over to him, and was relieved to see he was breathing.

"He looks like he is just sleeping," Mimi noted after making her way towards Dust's side. "Though I'm not surprised, I'm sure any one of us would go unconscious after having a deity take control of our bodies then later leaving."

"I don't know how long he'll be unconscious for… but I need to take him back to the guild," Berry sighed.

Berry tried to push the unconscious Absol to the door, but he was pretty heavy for her. Mimi came closer before she released two of her claws and carefully picked up Dust with ease. Berry blinked in surprise.

"Well… I guess we'll see if I can actually leave the mansion now," Mimi said before she looked at the other Ghosts. "I hope to see you all again soon on the other side."

All the Ghosts waved goodbye to Mimi, saying they hope she'll be able to enjoy her freedom for them until they earn their freedom themselves. They also thanked Berry for helping them out. Berry was blushing as they were leaving the mansion, hearing the Ghosts thanking them.

"The Carriage we took is just over there," Berry pointed with her antenna.

The Houndoom and Mighyene were there, waiting. They were likely chatting with each other while they were waiting.

"Oh, look who's back. Looks like the Absol might've had _too _much fun at the party~" Houndoom chuckled, seeing that Dust was being carried by the Mimikyu.

"Oh, looks like they made a new friend too. You have to share the details with us," Mightyena added, curious what kind of night they had.

Mimi looked around, rather surprised that she was able to be outside of the mansion. She then moved towards the Carriage, and gently put Dust down into it before pulling her arms under the Pikachu cloth. Berry looked over at Mimi.

"Thanks, you know, for helping us out," Berry said in a grateful tone. "You know… if you'd like, maybe you could join up with us? Be a Crusader, maybe learn more about the world while helping Pokemon out?"

Mimi shook her head before answering Berry. "For now, no. I am eternally grateful for what you and Dust did and I would love to join you two. But right now I want to see the world on my own, see what I've been missing out. But I promise when we see each other again, I'll join you then."

Berry gave a small smile. "I understand. I hope you'll be able to have a great time re-experiencing the world again after being trapped for so long. You know where Unity Guild is, right? It's in White Leaf Town not far from here. If you're looking for us, we are Team Night Tide."

"I won't forget the name!" Mimi then gave Berry a quick hug with her shadowy arms. "I look forward to seeing you guys again."

Berry smiled as she gave Mimi, or at least her Pikachu costume, a hug as well with her antennae. "I look forward to seeing you again too, and I'm sure Dust would as well. Be safe out there, Mimi, there's a reason why Crusaders exist after all."

"Of course," Mimi chuckled. "You just make sure you take care of that partner of yours."

Berry chuckled sheepishly. "I'll do the best I can to keep that knucklehead safe."

* * *

**ChloeTheKitsune****: DarkFoxKit:** As always, you'll just have to read to find out.

**Greatest Guy****: Traveling Master: **Well considering that Ghost tend to live for a long time, I think they need something to do to liven up their _spirits._

**Chihiro**: Ha! Good one, and he's right. One perk for living so long is that we ghosts know how to party. And I will never forget when Dust was going all around acting all adorable. I don't know how Roxy was able to convince him to do it, but it was _Absol_utely a sight to see!

**Traveling Master: **Okay, I think that's enough puns for now. Don't know if Dust will do something like that again in the future, but who knows?

**FoxyKhai0209****: DarkFoxKit:** We'll let the chapter itself answer that question about Dusknoir. And yeah, Ghost types tend to be pretty dang dangerous when you see their Pokedex entries. Kinda makes you wonder why they have children going out, capturing these creatures.

I… don't really have much to say on the paranormal activities. Ghosts are creepy, in real life and in fiction. ***Shrugs* **Just be careful, you never know if they might be hostile or not.

**Lunar Kisses****: DarkFoxKit: **Mario references? Or did you mean Luigi's Mansion's references? It is an inspiration of Luigi's Mansion, but I don't think we made a lot of actual references to it.

**Crystal Lovely****: Traveling Master: **Yup, it was pretty lucky that the Kecleon shop had those two moves, while unwise for Dust to spend it all, in the end it will come in handy in their future battles. And as Dust has mentioned before, while he isn't fully experienced in the ability to sense oncoming danger, he's been getting used to it more and more. Having an ability like that can also be very useful.

**Lucy Zodiac****: Traveling Master: **Only time will tell, though as the story progresses, previous questions will be answered. So maybe your question may be answered in this chapter, or maybe in another. Only time will tell.

**Ocean Rose****: DarkFoxKit:** Yeah, the Strange Mansion is a bit like the Strange House. That house was creepy, though I still find the Old Chateau from Pokemon Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum to be creepier.

**Star Ophiuchus****: DarkFoxKit:** We're technically living in the same country, but Traveling Master, as his name implies, travels a lot.

**Peppermint Heart****: Traveling Master: **Heh, Ghost Pokemon sure have come a long way since Generation 1. I especially like how they made a Ghost Dragon for Sword and Shield, Dreepy is now up there with my other favorite Pokemon.

**Velvet Love****: DarkFoxKit:** Berry is usually pretty timid, and not to mention the little scare prank Mimi did when they first walked in made her faint a little. Don't worry though, Berry can be brave when the situation calls for it.

**Guest****: DarkFoxKit:** Yamask and Phantump are, to my knowledge, the only Ghost Pokemon confirmed in canon that they are indeed reincarnations of humans, or rather, spirits of humans who died. We won't say much more than that though.

**Jewel moonstone****: Traveling Master: **Dusk, who is this Dusk you speak of? XD Joking aside, yes, I think if we were in Dust and Berry's situation, we would all be running too.

**Moonshadow****: DarkFoxKit:** Yeah, I used to play Luigi's Mansion all the time when I first got it and the GameCube as a kid.

**Shining Specter****: Traveling Master: **Good question, but like I mentioned before, you might find out this chapter, or some other, only time will tell.

**Astral Haze****: DarkFoxKit:** Heh, I think most everyone does, wanting to be a Pokemon, have adventures with the Explorers or whoever they are in the Mystery Dungeon series. Though it's not all fun and games, you would have to put yourself in danger to save other Pokemon. There's also a strong possibility you could get seriously hurt or even die.

**Traveling Master: **There are always going to be pros and cons to being part of a story, but that's the best part about making stories. You are essentially creating your own world, filled with all your ideas, characters, and creation. You are basically putting a part of yourself into the story. That's the great thing about Fanfiction, the stories and ideas are limitless, so it's always interesting to see what other worlds others have created.


	24. Chapter 24: A Research Mission

**DarkFoxKit: *Looks at the door*** Note to selves: be careful when writing characters meeting with you in your own story.

**Traveling Master: **… ***I don't answer, instead I happen to be working on something special***

**DarkFoxKit: *Looks over at TM*** What are you doing?

**Traveling Master: **What?! Nothing! ***I try hiding some of the stuff behind me, only for one of them to fall on the ground, revealing some sort of fire cracker* **...Uh...that's...a toy?

**DarkFoxKit:** Uh-huh… Is that for tomorrow, the 4th of July?

**Traveling Master: *I sigh as I step aside, revealing all sorts of rockets and such* **Yup, was gonna surprise you tomorrow, but more importantly, trying to make sure Dust doesn't find out. Last thing we need it for him to get close to any type of explosives.

**DarkFoxKit:** I'm going to be needing some earplugs… I hate loud noises. It's probably for the best you didn't surprise me, otherwise I'd be screaming bloody murder and make a mess of the house.

**Traveling Master: **Oh, noted. Then I guess it's a good thing you did find out.

**Dust: **Though is it wise for you, a Charmeleon, to be handling all those fireworks?

**Traveling Master: **Dust?! Where did you come from?!

**Dust: **I just happened to be around, and honestly, I'm a bit offended. Yes, I do cause the occasional explosion and such, but that's when I'm experimenting or testing something new. I've already done my fair share of fireworks before, and out of us two, I honestly think you are more liable to causing them to go off than me.

**DarkFoxKit: *Notices that TM's fire tail was getting a little too close to the fire crackers, and I quickly began backing away*** Maybe Dust has a point, TM, you _do_ have an exposed flame after all.

**Traveling Master: **Now hold on, are you telling me that out of us two, I'm more likely to cause an explosion? Seriously? You, who is known to break things whenever you try to _test _them? Like DF's computer, or her switch...Honestly I think you've broken more of her stuff than I've ever had since being here. So I'll ask again, what makes you think I'm more liable to causing them to go off?

**Dust: *Points to the lit firecracker*** That.

**Traveling Master: **…Oh boy... ***I look behind me and see that the fuse was lit. I then look back, only to see both Dust and DF were already running away* **...Welp...enjoy the chapter folks...this is gonna hurt!

***There was sudden static***

* * *

**Chapter 24: A Research Mission**

Dust opened his eyes, finding himself back in his comfy bed in the Unity Guild. He gave a yawn as he stretched out his body, trying to remember what happened last night. Cliff was sleeping beside him again as he noticed while he was stretching out. Berry was likely sleeping in the water pot again. Dust was able to recall some of the events that happened last night, but some of it was fuzzy. And the more he thought about it, the more he felt like it was a dream, especially after remembering all those doors.

"Did that mean...we overslept? Was it all a dream?" Dust asked no one in particular.

Dust closed his eyes for a moment, trying to recall as much as he could. He remembered entering the mansion, all the ghosts that were there. He recalled a lot of running, a Mimikyu helping him and Berry. Then he remembered how they had almost escaped, only for Dusknoir to stop them. As he focused more and more on these thoughts, his heart was starting to race. He recalled how a Chandelure was burning his very soul, and his body was starting to heat up from the thought of it. But then the image of Vlad about to stab himself with a long rusty nail sent a shiver down his spine. And just as Vlad used Curse, Dust opened his eyes while grabbing his chest, feeling his heart pounding heavily. He was breathing hard, and even though he had just woken up, he was no longer tired.

"That wasn't a dream...was it?" Again, Dust asked no one in particular.

"Daddy?" Cliff asked, having woken up to Dust's musings. "Daddy! Daddy awake! Daddy awake!"

"Awake? How long was I unconscious for?" Dust asked Cliff.

"All night!" Cliff answered.

Berry came up from the water pot, looking quite groggy. She gave a yawn, before she noticed the awake Absol. Berry hopped out of the water pot and slithered over to Dust, seeing that his eyes were their unique blue and red again, she gave a sigh of relief. "I'm glad you're awake and you again, Dust. I was starting to worry you might not wake up for days."

"For days?" Dust asked as he thought about those last few moments, only for his heart to start racing once more. "Berry… Did I almost die last night?"

"Apparently…" Berry frowned. "When Vlad was using Curse on you to take your soul out, I went into one of my outbursts. But this time I was conscious, I was in control, sort of. I was flooding the place with rain, and my Water Gun was like a Hydro Pump. I think it turned into Water Pulse after that. I managed to get the Ghosts off of me, and went after Vlad. But Vlad managed to catch me in his grip. I did manage to use Dragon Breath on him though, but at some point during that, Giratina took over your body."

"HE WHAT?!" Dust shouted. "You have to tell me everything! What was I like?! Were my eyes glowing? Or were they normal? Since Giratina is part Ghost and was controlling my body, did he make me float or something? Did he sound like me when he spoke? Or was it different, like his voice? Did he mention me? Wait, of course he would, most likely he would've mentioned me if he was controlling my body. Oh, what did he say to you? Any interesting information, a possible warning? Or maybe clues as to the gift he left for me? What about-"

Dust was being slapped by Berry's antennae. They didn't hurt by any means, but they did get him to be quiet.

"Please, save your endless questions until the end of the story," Berry sighed.

Dust blinked before nodding. Cliff stayed beside Dust as Berry began telling Dust what had happened after Girainta took over his body. She told him about Mimi's freedom, how the other Ghosts were now working for Giratina to redeem themselves, how Mimi may join them later on, and Giratina's warning about Dust coming close to death again. Berry made especially sure to emphasize on that last part.

"After we got back to the guild, Carrie had to help me bring you back into the guild while I reported to Chihiro about the invitation. Because we were attacked, we ended up gaining 100 rank points," Berry informed.

"100?!" Dust shockingly asked. "Makes me wonder how many points we would've gotten if we hadn't been attacked in the first place."

"Chihiro said we likely would've gotten 30 to 50 since it was an invitation mission," Berry answered before she frowned. "Why aren't you more worried about death? You're likely going to actually die if you come close to it again you know. And you've been close to it a lot."

"Oh, I know. It's a frightening thought...But at the same time, I think back to when we were in that hallway filled with doors. When we opened the one and saw a future version of me. He seemed to know what was currently happening. And if the future version was able to recall what happened during the mansion, then it gives reason to worry less about death," Dust explained. "Granted, I know it doesn't automatically make me invincible, but it is reassuring to know that I still have a future."

"Those doors were just illusions, Dust. Nothing short of Celebi and Dialga's powers could ever show us the future," Berry grumbled. "If that _was_ the future you, then I'd have to question what you were doing with a Goodra."

"Well… did you think of the possibility that the Goodra could possibly be-" Dust started out slowly, remembering how Berry reacted upon seeing that door.

"Could be a new team member?" Berry finished.

"And why would I suddenly have a new team member?" Dust asked. "Remember, I said I would never leave you behind. That future version of me didn't look like he left you behind."

"Well maybe we just didn't see 'me'," Berry grumbled. "I don't know why that Goodra was there, but that certainly wasn't me."

"But I recall her seeming to know about our situation in the mansion as well," Dust continued. "Look, all I'm saying is that there could be a chance that Goodra is you."

"No! Don't say that!" Berry hissed. "I'm not part of that line!"

"Mommy angry?" Cliff frowned.

Berry frowned as well. "Mommy's not angry, Cliff, Mommy is just annoyed that Daddy wanted to take a dream he saw seriously."

Dust was about to make a remark but then shook his head, frowning as well. "Yes Cliff, it was just a dream, nothing more. Let's go get something to eat to take our minds off things."

"I can eat lots!" Cliff smiled proudly.

"Heh, you sure can," Berry chuckled lightly.

* * *

While at the cafeteria, Cliff was enjoying her soil berries. Dust and Berry didn't say much to each other as they were eating their own food. Dust was wondering about if evolution could possibly change a Pokemon's personality. The Goodra in the door that he was sure was Berry in the future, and it was not a hallucination, seemed to be calm and happy.

Then Dust looked up from his plate and saw Team Silkwing coming into the cafe. Talon looked pretty tired, though he was carrying a Metapod on his back that looked to be almost twice his size. A Snivy was following behind him.

"Seriously Talon, I can help carry her, you know," Ivy offered as she held out her vines.

"It's... okay, I... got... her," Talon huffed between breaths.

"Suit yourself," Ivy shrugged then noticed Dust and Berry. "Hey, there's Team Night Tide. How about you sit with them while I get us our food?"

"Fine… good… okay…!" Talon panted before he took small hops to get over to where Team Night Tide were eating.

"Hey Talon, hey Tippi!" Berry greeted when they approached. "Uh… Talon? You okay? You look a little… uh… tired."

Dust, who was still a bit annoyed from before, perked up when he saw Talon with a Metapod on his back. "Talon, great to see you. And I'm assuming the Metapod is Tippi? Unless you had decided to change partners and get a completely different one."

"What? No! I would never!" Talon quickly spoke up.

"Sorry, I only mean to jest," Dust chuckled slightly while giving a brief glance at Berry. "You two have a very strong bond, and so it's very reassuring to know that even despite physically changing, you two still remained partners and good friends."

Berry gave Dust an annoyed look, likely knowing what he was doing.

"Yeah…" Talon wheezed as Tippi hopped off of his back.

"Talon, I appreciate what you're trying to do, but I don't wish to put more pressure on you like this," Tippi stated. "Besides, I can't eat until I evolve."

"Oh, speaking of eating, that reminds me. Tippi, about what I said last time we spoke," Dust spoke up, causing both Talon and Berry to give worried looks. "I wanted to apologize. It was never my intention to come across like that and I'm truly sorry for what I said to you last time."

"I know you didn't mean it like that, Dust. I was just feeling really moody at the time," Tippi sighed. "I was just constantly hungry, but I realize that was because I was getting close to my evolution. Many Bug type Pokemon that go through a cocoon evolution have to eat a lot because they will not be able to eat while their bodies are stuck in their shells until evolution. Eating also provides us enough energy to evolve after our cocoon stage is complete."

"Fascinating," Dust said. "I never had a chance to view evolution myself, and hardly meet someone who recently had gone through the experience. Tell me, what was it like? I've read many accounts saying it felt like the Pokemon itself had a burst of energy that it could no longer contain, but it wasn't the same kind of energy that was used in attacks, but more as internal energy. It was hard trying to piece all the informations together, considering there are many accounts, but I want to hear from you. What was it like?"

"Hmm… it's really not easy to describe in words," Tippi said. "And I would imagine each evolution feels different to different Pokemon. For me, it felt… like I could do anything. I felt so strong, so full of energy, and also so hungry at the same time. When I finally did evolve, I began to feel a bit trapped, mostly due to the fact my body was being encased in a hard shell. I would imagine I would feel much stronger and freer once I evolve again into Butterfree. Like I said, evolution could feel different depending on the Pokemon."

"I haven't evolved yet, but I suspect that the most common thing many Pokemon would feel when undergoing evolution is that they will feel much stronger than before," Talon put in his two Pokes.

"It's too bad Absol don't evolve, but.. I think they used to be able to evolve?" Tippi wondered.

"Ah yes, I remember asking my mother about that too. She explained that long ago our ancestors had what you would call, a second form," Dust tried to explain it, knowing he himself didn't fully understand it. "How to explain... Let's see… Think of it like evolution...but not."

"So it's kind of like a more powerful form change in a way?" Talon asked.

"Exactly. And unlike evolution, it wasn't permanent. Unfortunately that method of being able to change to a more powerful form has been lost to us for a long time now. As far as I know, only certain Pokemon were capable of achieving this, and even then, they needed a certain item. As to what that item is, I have no clue," Dust explained before shrugging. "But I hope to one day uncover the secrets of the past and be able to share it with others. Who knows, maybe in the future I do end up achieving such a feat, only time will tell."

Ivy came over with some trays, using her vines to carry them on. She set down the trays on the table. She took off the lid that was on Talon's tray, showing pieces of Bug type meat.

"Thanks, Ivy," Talon said gratefully.

Ivy smiled. "No problem. I'm just glad you're getting more comfortable with me."

Ivy then looked at the Larvitar. "Aww, who's this cutie?"

Cliff looked at Ivy and gave a wave. "Hi!"

"This is Cliff," Berry introduced. "She hatched a few days ago, so she's still pretty young."

"Ooooh! You hatched a Larvitar?" Talon asked, his eyes sparkling.

"Yes, though unintentional, she ended up imprinting upon me and Berry and now sees us as her parents," Dust explained.

"Aww, that's so cute!" Ivy smiled. "Maybe we should try to find a Pokemon Egg and hatch one."

"It would take a lot of work to take care of a baby Pokemon," Tippi stated.

"We're still learning on how to raise a healthy Larvitar," Berry admitted. "Carrie has been helping us out though."

"Oh, that reminds me…" Talon looked at Dust. "You like to study different types of Pokemon, right? Why don't you request a research mission then?"

"A research mission?" Dust repeated the question. "I didn't think that this guild had those kinds of missions."

"Of course it does," Talon chuckled. "Research missions aren't usually done by Crusaders, but they can do them. Crusaders take on the more riskier research though. Like field missions. There are a few huge open areas where wild Pokemon live in several groups. There are no Mystery Dungeons that would make them become more hostile than normal, and you wouldn't have to worry about getting trapped in one. Guilds often call these places the Wild Areas. It's a really good place for researchers to observe and study wild Pokemon, how they live, what they eat, how they mate, how they care for their young, things like that."

"You should also be careful though. Wild Pokemon can't tell the difference between wild and civilized Pokemon, so if a Pokemon thinks you're a threat, they can and will attack you. Likewise, if a wild Pokemon likes you, like really like you… well…" Ivy gave a grin. "Maybe it's best you don't have to find out."

Dust wasn't quite sure what Ivy meant, while Berry was blushing slighting, knowing full well what the Snivy was hinting at.

"Have you ever been to a Wild Area?" Tippi asked.

"No, I don't think we have," Berry answered.

"You'll likely be a little overwhelmed on your first time then." Ivy grinned. "Ah, what I wouldn't give to experience that first time again myself."

"So what do you think?" Talon asked. "You think you might take on a research mission this time?"

"What do I think?" Dust repeated the question. Then he suddenly shoved the remainder of his food in his mouth, chewing for a few seconds. He struggled to swallow for a moment but managed to do so. He pounded against his chest a few times to help the food travel down before finally answering. "I think I can't wait another second to take on a Research Mission! Come on Berry, Cliff, we got a mission to do!"

"W-wait, I'm not-" Berry began to say before Dust grabbed her and Cliff, putting them on his back, and he took off out the door. "-finished eating yet!"

Talon looked at the food Berry and Cliff left behind. "... More for us!"

* * *

"Dust! Slow down!" Berry yelled. "There was something I wanted to do before we took on a mission today! And we need to leave Cliff with Carrie before we go anyways!"

Dust stopped immediately, only for Cliff to end up bumping against the back of his head. The force almost caused Dust to fall over, but he managed to keep his balance. He rubbed the back of his head and winced from the pain, already feeling how sensitive it was. "That's gonna leave a bruise. Note to self, no sudden stop when carrying a 150 pound baby. Okay, we'll drop off Cliff first then take care of whatever you wanted to do."

"Daddy strong and fast!" Cliff giggled.

So now Dust was rushing off to Carrie's warehouse to drop off the Larvitar baby. As always, Carrie and Chloe were more than happy to have Cliff over while Dust and Berry did their missions for the day. Dust began to make his way back to the guild.

"So, Berry, what was it that you wanted to do?" Dust asked.

"I wanted to check in on Shab," Berry answered.

The Absol blinked. "Right… uh… who is Shab again?"

Berry deadpanned. "The Feebas… the fish Pokemon that wouldn't let go of me before?"

Dust stared at Berry for a second before finally remembering who she was talking about. "Oh! The Feebas. It has been a while since we last saw him, I'm curious to see how much he has advanced since we brought him to the guild."

"Exactly," Berry chuckled. "Hopefully he grew out of his 'cling to Berry' phase."

The Absol made his way to the room where Kura the Ninetales was, the same place they took Shab to learn how to become a civilized Pokemon.

"Hello there, how may I help you?" Kura asked when he saw Dust and Berry.

"We were hoping to check on Shab the Feebas. He was the one that was stuck on my partner," Dust explained.

Kura looked at them for a moment. "Ah, you're Team Night Tide, correct?"

"Yes, we are," Berry answered before she showed Kura her badge.

Kura nodded. "I will go get your Feebas friend."

Kura went to the back for a moment. Not long after, the Ninetales came back. "Shab, meet the team who had brought you here."

Dust and Berry were surprised to see the Feebas floating a little, like it was swimming in the air, before he looked at them.

"Hello. I am Shab. It is nice to meet you two, Team Night Tide," Shab spoke in their language.

Dust was staring at Shab, still trying to figure out how he was slightly floating. He then realized that he'd been staring for awhile now and quickly coughed before replying. "Right, sorry. Pleasure to meet you Shab. I am Dust, and this is-"

"Berry! I had never forgotten dear sweet Berry!" Shab suddenly spoke up before he hopped up at the Goomy suddenly.

Berry yelped before Shab ended up on top of her head. "What… are you doing?"

Dust was intrigued to see Shab in the same position as the first time he saw the Feebas, with him stuck on Berry's side. "Interesting, to think he would even remember your name. He must really like the taste of your slime."

Berry just gave Dust an annoyed look.

"I apologize, it would seem Shab refuses to let go of that habit of hit," Kura chuckled.

"How much longer would it be until he finishes his education training?" Berry asked, the Feebas smiling on top of her head.

Kura chuckled a bit before answering. "Oh, he's actually been advancing pretty far lately. Normally it takes a few weeks for Wild Pokemon to adjust to being civilized, but there are cases with some Pokemon where they advance quicker than others. Usually it depends on the Pokemon themselves. I say it would take a few more days to a week from now. But… hmm… it might help if you could take him with you on a test run. It will help the Pokemon understand what it is they need to do on your team better if you take him with you. What kind of mission are you planning to do today?"

"We were hoping to do a research mission," Dust answered.

"Hmm… A Research Mission? That would be a good test run for Shab, much safer than actually going into a Mystery Dungeon," Kura noted. "Just make sure to keep a close eye on him, even though he's been doing well in his education, he still has that wild instinct inside. He might react accordingly so if put in a certain situation."

"Noted," Dust replied with a firm nod. "Isn't this great Berry? Not only will we get to study different Wild Pokemon, but we now get to see how a recently Wild one reacts."

Shab was licking Berry's head happily. Berry just kept giving an annoyed look at Dust.

"Swell." Berry huffed. "Alright, Shab, that's enough!"

Shab did stop licking Berry's head, but still refused to get off of the Goomy. "We're going on a mission now?"

"Yes we are, my little fish friend," Dust happily answered. "I hope you are excited as I am. I can hardly wait!"

"Yay! My very first mission! I can hardly wait. I'll show you how useful I can be, Berry!" Shab smiled.

"Just… don't get _too_ attached to me during the mission," Berry sighed.

* * *

When Dust walked into Chihiro's office, Shab looked at the Ghost/Dragon in awe. "Ooooh!"

Chihiro looked at Dust when he came in. Phantom and Spooks were currently taking a nab in her horn. "Ah, good morning, Team Night Tide. I see you've brought along the Shabby new friend of yours. Seems he's quite attached to his sweet Berry~"

"Guildmaster, please, lighten up on the puns…" Berry groaned.

"Over my dead body!" Chihiro laughed out loud.

"Aren't you already-" Dust started to ask, only for Chihiro to cut him off.

"Dead? Well yes but actually no," Chihiro explained. "It's more confusing than you think, so to put it in simple terms, everyone can die, even Ghost Pokemon. Speaking of Ghosts, looks like you've caught the attention of a certain Legendary Pokemon. Would this also be related to your recent ability that you shared with me before?"

Dust nervously chuckled. "Yes, when I had almost died from poisoning, I had encountered Giratina. I didn't mean to keep it a secret, I wanted to tell you and Berry, but every time I tried to-"

"It felt like something was preventing you," Chihiro cutted Dust off.

"Yeah...How did you know?" Dust asked.

"When you've lived as long as I have, you end up seeing a thing or two," Chihiro explained. "If I had to guess, the reason why you had trouble telling others about Giratina was most likely for your own protection."

"Protection? From what?" Dust inquired.

"Look what happened at Strange Mansion. The only reason why you were invited in the first place was because they had found out about your encounter with Giratina. There are those who would not hesitate to use those blessed by Legendary Pokemon for their own purposes. Despite receiving such a great gift, it also ended up painting a giant target on your back. The more who know about you and your encounter with Giratina, the more Pokemon will come and seek you out. I suggest keeping this to yourself, the less who knows, the better," Chihiro warned.

Berry nodded. "Chihiro told me to keep quiet about it too when I told her about Giratina for the same reasons."

Chihiro then smiled. "So, is there any reason why you two came here today instead of checking the bulletin board for missions like you usually do? Other than showing off your adorable fishy teammate?"

"As impressive as Shab is, we actually do have another reason for being here. We were hoping to do a Research Mission," Dust explained.

"Oh? How interesting. I didn't think you'd know about the Research Mission until you've ranked up at least," Chihiro chuckled. "I didn't want you to always pick doing Research Missions. It's important for Crusaders to take on missions that involve going into a Mystery Dungeon since not many other Pokemon can do it."

"Well I learned about Research Missions from my old guild. Unfortunately by the time I did, I already had made a reputation for myself. No one wanted to be my partner, so I couldn't do any Research Mission," Dust said. "And don't worry, this is only a first time Research Mission. I'm sure I won't get overly excited over all the new Pokemon...Seeing and learning things I haven't been able to before. Able to dedicate my entire time studying the behavior of Wild Pokemon. Possible able to perform social experiments with them. Maybe even be able to…" Dust trailed off, lost in thought as he imagined all the possibilities.

"In other words, would it be alright if we get our first Research Mission now?" Berry asked after Dust kept going on.

Chihiro was chuckling. "Well, I suppose it was only a matter of time until Dust requested a Research Mission. Since you two are still Normal Rank, I'll be giving you a mission that will take you to a Wild Area that isn't too far from White Leaf Town. But you'll still find plenty of wild Pokemon. They don't call these spots Wild Areas for nothing after all."

Chihiro opened up a drawer under her desk, and dug out some papers. "Ah, here we go."

Chihiro put the paper on top of her desk, showing Dust the contents. "This mission will require you at least 6 hours to a day to complete since you'll be studying wild Pokemon in a huge place. You are to take notes of the wild Pokemon you study, and gather a few samples of vegetation, maybe the fur, feather, or scales of a wild Pokemon if you can. Research Missions are all about studying the Wild Area, not just the Pokemon, you can also observe the environment as well."

Dust was so excited he could hardly contain it. "Oh it's like I was born for this!"

"It's nice to see how excited you are, but remember, you are a Crusader first, a researcher second. While you are open to take on Research missions, there are other Pokemon who need Crusaders' help. So in the future, depending on how you've been doing in the guild, I will decide whether or not to let you take on a Research Mission," Chihiro explained.

While a bit of a setback, it didn't bother Dust too much. If anything, it just gave him more motivation to do more missions, especially if it means a chance to do a Research one. "Seems fair, anything else before we head out on our Research Mission?"

"You should take plenty of food with you. The Wild Area is full of different types of fruit and berries, but it can be dangerous if you don't know which ones to pick, and they could also be in the territory of another wild Pokemon. It would be best to bring your own food just to be safe," Chihiro answered. "You can also bring some Poke too, sometimes Kecleon will set up shops there so researchers can buy items from them while they're doing their research. Kecleon will find rare items more often in a Wild Area than in a Mystery Dungeon."

"We'll definitely keep that in mind if we happen to run into Kecleon," Dust noted. "Thank you for the advice."

"Heh, good luck to the both of you then. I expect to see a lot of reports from you," Chihiro stated.

"I'll admit, this does sound like it's going to be a lot of fun," Berry remarked. "Getting to see a lot of wild Pokemon without worrying about being attacked unless provoked is far less pressuring than having to battle any wild Pokemon we come across in a Mystery Dungeon."

"I'm glad to see that you are also just as excited as I am," Dust added. "Now let's get going! Those Pokemon won't be studying themselves!"

Dust picked up the mission paper from Chihiro and put it into his satchel before walking out of her room. He then had to go to Miyagi again to get the paper improved. Miyagi, as always, had his disturbing stare before he put the stamp of approval on the paper and handed it back to Dust. Dust figured as long as he didn't say anything, Miyagi wouldn't hurt them. It was also the quickest way to get the Meowstic to approve their mission paper and let them go.

Once they were outside of the guild, their Carriage was already waiting for them. It was Sunny and Twilight again.

"Hey you two, glad to see you again!" Twilight greeted. "Though it looks like you have that extra passenger with you again."

"Well… Shab here is supposed to be a member of our team," Berry stated. "Though he seems to prefer to stick with me more than anything."

"It's rather fascinating when you think about it," Dust added. "If you like, I can share possible theories on this unique behavior-"

"Hard pass," Sunny cut Dust off. "So where are we taking you three now?"

Dust held up the mission paper for Sunny and Twilight to read. "We are doing a Research Mission and need to go to the Wild Area that's near town."

"Oh-ho! You're finally going to a Wild Area?" Twilight said in surprise, using his horn to lift up the paper from Dust's bag to look at it. "The White Leaf Wild Area, huh?"

"That is correct," Dust nodded. "Chihiro explained that these missions normally take about six hours, or possible an entire day to complete. I'm hoping it's the latter."

"Of course you would." Sunny rolled her eyes. "Well whatever. You're free to take as long as you like. The Wild Area has some very nice stables for us Carriage carriers. Just get into the Carriage so we can head out."

Twilight gave Dust back the mission paper.

"This is so exciting! I'm going on my first mission with Berry~" Shab smiled, still on Berry's head.

"Don't get _too_ excited," Berry grumbled.

"Then hop on, we'll get you there in a jiffy," Twilight replied.

Dust hopped into the Carriage, allowing Berry to hop off of his back to sit across from him, though the Feebas still refuses to leave the Goomy's head. The two different types of Ponyta began to gallop forward, going to their destination.

"So, what made you want to do a Research Mission in the first place?" Twilight asked.

"Oh, you know me, I love researching new things, learning the unknown. Oh I can already tell this will be fun. With all this studying we'll be doing, it will definitely help take my mind off _certain_ things," Dust chimed, while shooting a brief glance at Berry.

Berry frowned as she looked at the Absol, but she didn't say anything to that, instead she just looked away from Dust.

Shab looked between the two. While he may have been fresh out of the education room, he could tell when there was tension between two Pokemon. "Did you two have a fight?"

"A fight?" Dust repeated the question before shaking his head. "Oh no. A bit of a disagreement, but nothing more. In the end, it apparently doesn't matter, so we can just forget about it."

"Forget about it?" Shab questioned. "I don't think forgetting about it will clear up the issue. It's better to face things head on until the problem goes away!"

"Interesting analysis. And I do agree," Dust nodded. "But unfortunately, some of us would rather not speak of certain subjects and just ignore them all together. Perhaps it's for the best, a debate can only happen if both sides are willing to communicate."

Dust looked at Berry as he remembered talking to Berry about her possible evolutions before on White Peak, and how he would support her. He was still surprised at Berry lashing out at him when they were, Dust was sure, looking at their future selves back at the Strange Mansion. It had bothered him that she would rather believe that he had abandoned her for another partner, as though treating his words as if they meant nothing to her.

* * *

Dust, thankfully, became distracted from Berry's attitude when he saw the area around them changing. It was looking more wild and rural. The road had more grass growing on it. There were almost no buildings in sight. Looking around, Dust could already see Pokemon living out in the forest area, mostly Bug types crawling on the trees, or Grass type in hiding. There were a few Flying types he could see that were flying around.

As Twilight and Sunny kept going, they soon started crossing a bridge, and that was when Dust could see a huge, open field area that had tons and tons of wild Pokemon spread out across the land. He could see herds of species of Pokemon migrating together. Water Pokemon that were swimming in the water. Several Flying types flying around them. Even Berry was taken in by the sights.

"Welcome to the White Leaf Wild Area!" Twilight presented. "Normally after completing a mission, you would use your badges to teleport out of the dungeon, where we normally are waiting for you. But since this Wild Area is pretty close to town, we'll make sure to stop by later to see if you've done enough research for the day. That is assuming we decide not to stay at the stable of course."

"If you need to leave right away, however, there's a stable that allows you to use any Carriages to get back to your guild," Sunny added.

Sunny and Twilight soon came up to the only large building in the area. The large building was more of a barn than anything. Standing outside of the barn was a Stoutland. Standing beside the Stoutland was a Herdier, and standing next to the Herdier was a Lillipup, who was wagging its tail excitedly. There was also an Ampharos standing beside the Stoutland family.

The Carriage pulled up to a stop when they reached the barn.

"Hello and welcome to the Carriage Wild Area Stables," Ampharos greeted. "Here we take care of all the needs, and make the Carriage Pokemon as comfortable as possible while they wait for the team they brought to do what they need to do."

"Fascinating," Dust noted. "Never would have imagined a place like this for those working in the Carriage business."

"Of course, what do you think we need to do while you're off researching wild Pokemon all day? We're not going to stand and wait you know," Sunny rolled her eyes.

"No need to get snippy with them, Sunny, this is all new to them after all," Twilight chuckled. "This is pretty much like a spa day for us."

"You two can get out of the Carriage now and go exploring with your bad selves," Sunny added to Team Night Tide.

Dust nodded before he jumped off of the Carriage. Berry slithered down from it, Shab still on her head.

Herdier and Stoutland helped unhooked Sunny and Twilight from the Carriage.

"Right this way, please," Stoutland stated.

Lillipup was bouncing around excitedly. "I wanna help them relax!"

"Well you two have fun relaxing, we'll be enjoying our Research Mission ourselves," Dust said before turning towards Berry as he crouched for her to get on. "Ready Berry?"

Berry looked at Dust. "Are you sure you want me to ride on you?"

Dust tilted his head, confused by the question. "Why wouldn't I? We've been doing this for almost two months now. I'm still wearing the Pecha Scarf, so we shouldn't have to worry about your slime poisoning me."

"It's not that. You just seem to be mad at me lately," Berry answered.

Dust frowned, losing some of his optimism just now. "So you _assume_ that just because I might feel upsit, I would just decide to not offer my assistance? Regardless of how I feel, whether it'd be joy, anger, confusion, or such, I'm always willing to give you a ride. So do you want one or would you rather prefer slithering? I'm okay with either option."

Berry wasn't sure how to feel at this point. She was definitely confused though. Normally whenever anyone was angry at her, they wanted nothing to do with her. Not that she had a lot of Pokemon who actually cared for her before coming to the Unity Guild.

"I doubt I would get far around here by slithering," The Goomy said before she slithered onto Dust's back.

"Good, now let's get this Research Mission started!" Dust shouted, glad to finally be able to focus on something else.

Dust walked out the Stable, taking a moment to look around the field once more before grabbing the mission papers. "Now let's see, we can either start with studying the Wild Pokemon first, or perhaps some of the vegetation nearby. Considering that you and Shab are well adept in the water, perhaps we can start there?"

"Do the mission papers come with a map?" Berry asked. "This place is huge. How would we move around without getting lost?"

"Well luckily for us, a map is included," Dust grabbed the map from their bag, making sure that Berry was able to see it. "You'll notice on the map that there are way points across the Wild Area. These are used to mark locations to help others navigate through the field. As well, some come with warnings of hazardous areas, but considering this Wild Area seems pretty calm, I don't think we would have to worry too much about dangerous terrain. Though, better to stick together, never know what you'll end up running into."

"Since you're our legs, you choose where we go," Shab stated. "If there's a body of water you want us to check out, just say the word."

Dust nodded before studying the map more. "Lets see, there is a body of water nearby… As well it seems a lush forest that borders the water. We'll go for that area first, and while you two study the Pokemon in the water, I can study the surrounding areas. Sounds like a plan?"

"Sounds like a good plan to me," Berry shrugged.

"Great! Nice that we can agree once more," Dust added. He took another look at the map, making sure of which directions to take, before putting both the map and mission paper away. "Now off we go!"

* * *

Dust began running through the Wild Area. His mismatched eyes sparkled in excitement as he looked around. There were many different Pokemon. There were also different environments. He could see a barren desert place not too far away for the Ground and Rock types. There was a small mountain not too far away for the mountain Pokemon. Though there were mostly wide open green places and forests, likely due to the natural environment being forests and grasses.

Dust looked to the more moist areas, near a lake. There were more Water types living around here. But not only that, he could see Pokemon that weren't Water types but dwelled around the water, like Croagunk, Masquerade, and even a small rare school of Dratini. Dust looked like he would faint from all the excitement.

"Dust, please, control yourself before you black out on us," Berry spoke up as Dust was starting to feel a little dizzy.

Dust stopped for a moment, looking back at Berry. "Right, sorry about that, it's just that I can hardly contain myself. I feel that I'm in my element, and I'm itching to get started!"

"This is pretty exciting," Shab agreed. "I'd like to see more Pokemon down there. Will you be joining me, my lovely Berry?"

"You're starting to sound like Brody," Berry remarked before she hopped off of Dust. "But yeah, this lake seems to be as good a spot as any to start looking at the water dwelling Pokemon. Don't go too far in your researching, Dust."

"Worry not, I have the map with me. Even then, I've memorized most of it, mostly the area we are in, so I should be able to navigate back to where you are if I happen to get seperated," Dust explained.

"Who is this Brody? Is he someone I should be worried about?" Shab asked with a hint of jealousy in his voice.

"Just someone who likes to swoon all the ladies, so no, you don't have to worry about him," The Goomy reassured.

"Oh, so he's an expert when it comes to ladies?" Shab asked.

"I guess in a way, he kinda is," Dust answered. "Considering how many females he flirts with on a daily basis, I'd say he has some experience when it comes to that."

"Interesting," Shab remarked.

"Come on, let's go," Berry spoke up. "I want to see more of what's in that lake."

"Yes, my sweet Berry!" Shab smiled.

Berry hopped down into the lake with a splash along with Shab. Dust stretched for a moment, appreciating the thought of being able to research on his own.

"While I have grown to appreciate our friendship, Berry, I can't deny I've somewhat missed my alone time," Dust spoke mostly to himself. "Now time to do some research of my own."

Dust began to look around the area. He was already watching closely at some rodent Pokemon he spotted. A Pachirisu sharing some of its berries with an Emolga. A Skwovet then tried to steal some of the berries and stuff it into its cheeks. This angered the Pachirisu and it began to chase after the Skwovet. Pachirisu managed to shoot out a Discharge attack, paralyzing the Skwovet before it used Super Fang on it for good measure. Dust sweatdropped as he watched the Pachirisu carrying its berries back to the Emolga while the Skwovet scurried off somewhere.

"Interesting, I know Pachirisu love their berries, I haven't seen one with so much determination to get them back. Perhaps this Pachirisu has strong feelings towards the Emolga, but why?" Dust asked himself, but then a thought occurred. "If they were civilized, it would simply be just that, the Pachirisu has feelings for the Emolga, but they are wild. They are acting according to instinct, and if the Pachirisu would go to great lengths to retrieve the stolen berries, than that would mean the Emolga is in heat! To think I would be here to witness this!"

Then suddenly, something came slithering out of the bushes. Both Pachirisu and Emolga's ears twitched before they turned. An Ekans jumped out, intending to swallow them whole. However, Emolga and Pachirisu acted fast, they managed to scurry away before the Ekans could get them, but it did eat their berries instead. The Ekans looked back at the two Electric Squirrel Pokemon before it appeared to be laughing, as if it was taunting them.

Dust took notes as he watched this strange behavior from the Ekans. "Hmm, despite having failed to catch its prey, the Ekans seem to still have plans on catching them. This may be a unique strategy the Snake Pokemon is using… Also, I just realized that Ekans spelled backward is Snake, funny."

Ekans hissed as the Emolga was shivering in fright. The Pachirisu looked at the Emolga before it stepped forward and electricity sparked in its yellow cheeks, seeming to be challenging the Ekans to a battle.

"Interesting, the Pachirisu wants to protect the Emolga and is willing to battle Ekans to do so. While Ekans might have the size advantage, Pachirisu's speed will surely help him in this endeavor," Dust noted.

Dust watched carefully as the two wild Pokemon were battling with each other. Their battles were a lot less refined than the battles Dust had watched or participated in. Instead of strategy, or using unique combinations of moves, the wild Pokemon were just brutally hitting each other with attack after attack. Pachirisu didn't dodge as often as Dust thought it should, and tried to use Super Fang with its long tooth. Ekans would wrap its body around the Pachirisu in an attempt to squeeze it, which prompted the Pachirisu to use Discharge, zapping the snake Pokemon silly. It was a test of endurance from there.

However, before the battle could be concluded, an angry looking Lycanroc that was of the Midnight Form, let out a howl. Dust blinked as he looked at the bipedal Lycanroc, he could see its fur was a little burnt, likely being hit by a stray bolt from the Pachirisu's Discharge attack. The Ekans and Pachirisu froze at the large werewolf Pokemon as it angrily stormed towards them. When it towered over them, its red eyes gleamed, the Ekans let go of Pachirisu, deciding a small meal wasn't worth its life, and the Pachirisu ran away. Dust looked at the Emolga, seeing that it had already glided away with the wind.

"Hmm, despite being in heat, their instinct told them to flee at the moment Lycanroc appeared. Perhaps fear is more powerful than love," Dust wrote down some more notes. "Then again, these are wild Pokemon acting solely on their instinct, I'm sure it would be different if they were all civilized. Now the question is what will the Lycranroc do? Pursue the Pachirisu, despite it being faster? Or perhaps going after the Ekans?"

Dust turned around, trying to decide which Pokemon to follow when he saw something moving on some of the big leaves that were full of dew. His eyes blinked when he saw what he thought was Berry slithering on the leaves.

"Berry?" Dust called out before walking towards the Goomy he thought was Berry. "What are you doing here? I thought you were with Shab?"

'Berry' didn't seem to pay Dust any mind when he called for her though, and began to lick the dew off the leaf.

When Dust came closer to the Goomy, he began to realize something. The Goomy appeared to be chubbier and bigger than Berry, it also wasn't wearing that red Defense Scarf.

"Either you lost your scarf while gaining a lot of weight, or you're not Berry," Dust concluded.

The Goomy glanced at Dust but then went back to licking dew off the leaf, hardly bothered by the fact that Dust was standing behind it.

"Strange, I recall most Wild Pokemon run in fear when in the presence of an Absol. I mean, I know I don't really pose much of a threat but I do recall my mother causing everyone to flee. Perhaps this Goomy's stomach is stronger than their instinct," Dust noted before an idea came to mind. "Oh, this brings many possibilities, I have to see how it would react with Berry."

Dust went to pick up the Goomy, but found that it was firmly stuck to the ground, refusing to budge. Dust tried again, but the Goomy refused to move, instead it continued to lick the dew of the leaf.

"Scratch that, I now believe this Goomy's stomach is much stronger, and possibly more stubborn," Dust remarked before letting Goomy go.

Dust looked at the Goomy for a moment, seeing it crawl up on the leaf and appeared to be waiting for something. Looking up to see what the Goomy was waiting for, he was surprised to see a sleeping Wurmple. It didn't seem to notice the Goomy. Dust noticed the Goomy's antennae were moving a little, like when Berry used her antennae to sense other Pokemon. The Goomy was pushing the leaf ever so slightly, making the sleeping Wurmple slide down towards it. As the Wurmple slipped down, the Goomy opened its mouth very wide. Dust's own eyes widened at this, seeing the Goomy swallowing up the Wurmple, which woke up only to find itself in the Goomy's mouth.

Seeing this, Dust could 100% confirm Goomy were omnivore Pokemon. Though seeing it made him slightly uncomfortable. He knew this Goomy wasn't Berry, but the thought of Berry consuming a living Pokemon like that made him shiver. He than recalled how Berry had told him how she saw Goodra swallow an entire Serviper whole. Dust started to get a better understanding why Berry was so against eating meat now, despite seeing her accidently eating it before.

The Goomy looked to be very happy with its meal, and was giving a goofy looking smile. "Goomy~"

Dust wondered if the Goomy was full yet, and if he could take it to Berry, however, before he could try to pick it up, something rustled in the bushes. A feminine voice grunted something as it came out of the bushes.

Dust blinked when he looked at the Pokemon that came out of the bush, it was another Absol. It was definitely female, her eyes were their normal red colors though, and she was a bit smaller than Dust. She was staring at Dust.

"Amazing, I've never seen another Absol before, well besides my mother," Dust said while studying the Absol. Dust made sure to take some precautions, never having met a wild Absol before. "Though we are civilized, I'm curious how a wild Absol will react to seeing another of its kind."

The Absol suddenly began sniffing Dust. Dust blinked, wondering how he smelled to this Absol. Then she suddenly bowed her head forward, making her head blade touching Dust's head blade. They clanged for a second. The Absol then gave a smile, almost as if she was satisfied with whatever it was she was inspecting.

"Interesting, perhaps this is how Absol greets another one of its kind. I never thought our head blades could be used as such. I have to write this down immediately," Dust went to grab his notepad on the ground, only for the Absol to block his path. "Uh… sorry, I just need to get past you real quick."

Dust went to move past the Absol, only for her to once again block his path. Dust tried once more, but the Absol was already one step ahead of him.

"Well if you won't let me pass, what do you want then?" Dust asked, though he wasn't really expecting an answer.

The Absol smirked at him. "Ab, Absol~"

The Absol suddenly tackled Dust down and pinned him with her claws.

"What are you doing? Get off me!" Dust shouted, but then a thought occurred to him, one that made him very worried. "Wait, earlier that Pachirisu was going through great lengths for that Emolga due to her being in heat. Based on your sudden reaction… Please tell me you're not also in heat."

The Absol gave Dust a hungry looking smile. Dust paled, realizing the trouble he found himself in. Luckily, he had a way to get away. His body was pinned, but his own claws weren't. He moved his right claw to reach into his bag and took out a Stun Seed, then he flicked it into the Absol's mouth. As soon as she chewed the seed, her body suddenly locked and froze. Dust was able to push her off of him and he started to walk away.

However, the Stun Seed didn't last very long, because Dust suddenly sensed danger. He looked back and saw the female Absol was moving already and was running after him. "ABSOL! ABSOL!"

"Oh no," Dust said before he started running for his life. "I am not ready for this kind of relationship!"

The Absol kept chasing him as her eyes turned into yellow stars of determination. Dust took a quick glance behind him, seeing the Absol was gaining in on him. This caused him to run even faster while screaming with the top of his lungs.

* * *

Berry and Shab were swimming close together. Shab didn't want to lose sight of his favorite Goomy. Berry was looking around, enjoying the sights. She had never seen so many different Water types swimming around together before. There weren't many ocean Pokemon, but there were a few Berry could see, which wasn't often in her life. Pokemon like Horsea, Staryu, and even the Clamperl, which were normally deep sea Pokemon. It made Berry wonder why they decided to settle in a lake. Shab managed to stop Berry from wandering into a Dewpider's web. He explained to Berry that a Dewpider often claims a body of water as their own by setting up webs in the area. They don't care about other species, but if another Dewpider came along, they would have a competition to see who would take the lake.

"Fascinating," Berry noted. "Did a Dewpider do that with the body of water you used to live in, Shab?"

Shab turned away for a moment, blushing very much at the compliment. "Yeah, I remember seeing one before, back when I was still fully wild."

"No wonder you know so much about the Dewpider." Berry smiled.

Shab looked to be turning red from the smile, he was so happy. Berry sweatdropped when she saw the Feebas turning ready. _I hope he's not boiling himself… he almost looks like a Magikarp in that shade of red._

Speaking of Magikarp, there were many of them swimming around the lake. There were also a few Feebas swimming as well, but Berry was surprised that there weren't a lot of Feebas like there were Magikarp. There were Goldeen, Seaking, Remeroid, and Finneon swimming around as well. There was a school of WishiWashi swimming around happily. Berry wished she could take notes, but it was impossible to bring a pen and paper underwater, she would just have to do her best to memorize what she was seeing.

Shab took Berry to a safe spot to hide underwater when a Gyarados was passing by.

"Thanks, you really know your way underwater," Berry complimented.

Shab was practically a Magikarp at this point, what with all his blushing. "Thanks. That was pretty close, didn't expect to see a Gyrados so close by."

"I guess it was only a matter of time seeing how there's so many Magikarp here," Berry noted. "Well, I think we've seen enough here. We should get back to Dust before he starts to worry."

Shab nodded before he and Berry began to swim up, but then Berry felt a strong presence coming towards them. She was about to dive back down, thinking the Gyarados was coming back, but stopped short when she saw what was swimming towards them. It was an aquatic, serpentine Pokémon with a primarily cream-colored body. It has red eyes with long, pinkish antennae above them. Additionally, there are long, hair-like fins above its eyes, which begin thin and thicken towards the tips. These eyebrows extend to almost half of the Pokemon''s body length. On top of its relatively small head is a straight spike. Running down either side of its neck are three black dots, similar to gills. Its lower body is a patterning of blue and pink, diamond-shaped scales outlined with black. The tail consists of four large, blue fins with pink ovals in their centers. Each of the tail fins overlaps the next slightly, causing it to resemble a fan.

"Whoa…" Berry stared in awe at the most beautiful Pokemon she had ever seen in her life, her eyes sparkled as she watched the graceful serpentine Pokemon swimming past her, moving its body in a graceful manner.

Shab noticed how amazed Berry was watching this graceful Pokemon. "What...What do you think of Milotic?"

"You know what that Pokemon is, Shab?" Berry asked, surprised.

Before Shab could answer, the Goomy's eyes sparkled again. "It's the most beautiful Pokemon I've ever seen. I didn't even know something that beautiful could exist. Look at the way it was swimming, I felt like I was watching a queen… or a king if it was male."

Berry then wrapped Shab up in a hug. "Oh, Shab, there are so many Pokemon in the world. So many different kinds. I hope we get to see a Milotic again though, I'd love to see what else it can do. But it swam away so fast we didn't get a chance to really look at it."

Berry let go of Shab and looked longingly at the direction the Milotic went swimming to. "Dust would've loved to see it, I'm sure. Though… I guess something that beautiful wouldn't want to waste its time on weird looking Pokemon like me..."

At first Shab was blushing after being hugged, but then grew concerned after hearing Berry. Despite what Berry had said, she was the most beautiful Pokemon there was to Shab.

_If you wish to see a Milotic, then I will do everything I can so that you can see one everyday of your life! _Shab thought to himself, filled with determination to make Berry's wishes come true. He already planned on surprising her and was looking towards the day when he would evolve. _And when I do, I'll see that beautiful face you made just now and show you how much you mean to me. I promise that you'll never have to feel bad about yourself ever again._

Shab swam over to Berry. "I'm sure you'll see a Milotic again soon, Berry. But for now, shall we get back to the land?"

The Goomy snapped out of her reverie and nodded to the Feebas. "Yeah. I can't wait to tell Dust about our discovery though, he'll be so excited and jealous!"

The two of them hopped out of the lake. Berry crawled up onto the land, while Shab floated a little off of the grass before he hopped on top of Berry's head. Berry wondered if Shab found her head more comfortable than just floating on his own. Though Berry didn't feel any weight on her head, so it wasn't like Shab was slowing her down as she slithered across the land.

"Now where did Dust go…? I told him not to go too far…" Berry wondered as she tried to look for him with her antennae.

Though just as Berry was starting to search for Dust with her antennae, a scream echoed through the woods, causing a few Tailow and Pidgey to fly away.

"What was that scream?" Shab asked.

Berry frowned. "That sounded like… Dust? Oh, no… what trouble did he get himself into this time?"

Just as Berry was slithering to where they heard the scream, something purple and green dropped down in front of her, making her and Shab jump. After getting over their initial shock, however, Berry was surprised to see the thing that fell in front of them looked very familiar. Berry's eyes widened when she realized it was another Goomy. The Goomy was bigger and chubbier than she was though. The Goomy was male, and was blinking at her, surprised to see her as well.

"I… didn't expect to see another Goomy…" Berry nervously noted as she slithered back a few inches.

"Goomy?" The Goomy gave a curious look at Berry before slithering towards her.

"It's a wild Goomy," Shab noted.

Berry slithered back a little. "What… what does he want? You can understand his ancient language, can't you?""

Shab nodded. "I can, but it's going to be a little difficult understanding him? I can understand wild Fish Pokemon easily, but a wild Goomy may have a different dialect, so… some things may get lost in translation."

Berry frowned. "...Wild Pokemon can have different dialects? I guess that's something to put into the notes later…"

The Goomy had gotten close to Berry while she was distracted, and this made Berry go stiff, wondering what the wild Goomy wanted. Her memory of the wild Goodra in the Waterfall Cavern was still vivid in her mind. The Goomy rubbed her side with his antennae, almost as if checking her goo. "Goomy?"

"I think he's saying 'soft glue' or 'different goo'," Shab tried to translate.

"Uh… well my goo is definitely different, since I was raised by Wooper and Quagsire," Berry admitted.

After looking at the piece of goo from Berry, the Goomy then put the goo in his mouth, much to Berry's disgust and Shab's anger. The Goomy seemed to perk up after tasting Berry's goo and was moving closer to Berry. "Goomy!"

"Why you…! How dare you! Only I get to taste Berry's goo!" Shab snapped before he bounced off of Berry's head and landed between her and the Goomy.

"Shab? What's going on?" Berry asked, confused and concerned.

"It looks like we came here during a bad time. I should've known, it's mating season. All the wild Pokemon here are in heat and there's no way I'm letting a Goomy like you getting near Berry!" Shab shouted that last part at Goomy, who hardly seemed phased.

"Wah!?" Berry yelped. "What is it with male Pokemon tasting my goo and getting attached to me?"

"Goo, Goomy, my, my, Goo!" Goomy said to Shab in a challenging tone.

"Berry, go find Dust while I hold off this Goomy!" Shab said as he got into a battle position.

"But Shab-" Berry began to say in concern before the wild Goomy jumped suddenly.

Shab was body slammed by the Goomy. Shab flailed around, getting the Goomy off of him.

"Shab, are you alright?" Berry asked in concern. "We should leave, you're not supposed to get into fights!"

"We can't leave without Dust, and if we turn our backs to this Goomy, he will continue to pursue you. Right now the only thing on his mind is mating with you and he won't stop until he does," Shab explained.

The Goomy got on Shab again, and began to glow green. Berry recognized this attack as Absorb, which Shab was weak to being a pure Water type.

"No, stop! Get off of him!" Berry yelled.

The Goomy gave no indication that it understood her and kept sapping Shab's strength. This reminded Berry how Dust was being sapped dry by the Sandygast. Berry jumped at the Goomy and tackled him off of Shab. The Goomy fell a few feet, and looked up in surprise that the female Goomy just attacked him to save the Feebas. Berry looked at Shab in concern.

"Are you alright, Shab?" Berry asked in concern. "We'll find Dust soon and see if he has any Oran Berries for you."

"I'll be alright, I wasn't expecting that Goomy to know Absorb, but I'll be fine now," Shab replied.

"Goomy?" The Goomy looked confused.

Berry quickly got in front of Shab. "I know you can't understand me, but this Feebas is my friend. I'm not going to let you hurt him."

The Goomy at Berry for a moment, as though processing what she just said. After a few seconds the Goomy finally replied. "Goomy, goo goomy."

"He says… he mixed… no, he uh… understands sort of… he'll leaf… uh… leave me alone if you go with him," Shab roughly translated.

"Go with him? As in follow him or… mate?" Berry asked hesitantly.

"Goomy~" The Goomy answered, in what sounded like a flirtatious tone.

Goomy got closer to Berry and started to nuzzle her. Berry's body became rigid, she normally liked giving hugs, but she was terrified of the idea of mating while she was only 16 years old.

Thankfully for Berry, however, two Absol came running towards them. Goomy pushed Berry away before they could get trampled. One of the Absol that was running away from the other, however, was familiar to Berry. Berry blinked, seeing some pink under its fur.

"Is that Dust?" Berry questioned.

"I think so," Shab replied. "But why is that Absol chasing him?"

"I'm too young to be mating!" Dust shouted as he continued to run from female Absol.

Berry realized in shock that the reason why Dust was running like a maniac was because the female Absol wanted to mate him.

"We… uh… really should leave before one of us ends up having an egg. Cliff was one thing, but I'm not ready to lay an actual egg of my own!" Berry squeaked.

Berry looked at the wild Goomy for a moment. She had an idea. She picked up Shab with her antennae before putting him on her head, then she slithered over to the Goomy.

"Thanks for pushing me out of the way. But I have to go now," Berry apologized. "I hope you can find another mate who will give you what you need."

Berry pat the Goomy on the back, making the Goomy blush, before she slithered to a nearby big leaf. Berry quickly slithered up more, nearly slithering over a sleeping Caterpie. Berry kept going higher and higher, until she was so high up she was nearly on top of a tree. She looked down, seeing the two Absol running around.

"Brace yourself, Shab," Berry warned.

"With you by my side, I'm ready for anything," Shab replied.

Berry waited until the two Absol were running just under where she was waiting. Berry jumped from the high big leaf she was on, then she turned around and shot out rings of water, propelling her and Shab towards the two Absol. Dust saw the incoming Goomy and Feebas and quickly ducked his head down. The female Absol had been too distracted trying to catch Dust that she didn't see Berry and Shab until they slammed into her face. Berry just did a falling, Water Pulse and Body Slam combination on the Absol. This was enough to make the Absol fall to the ground, her body twitching a little from paralysis, and her eyes spiraling. Berry and Shab flipped off of the Absol when she fell down.

"Talk about perfect timing," Dust remarked as he recognized it was Berry and Shab. "Where did you two come from?"

"The sky," Shab answered.

"We were looking for you and noticed you… uh… needed some assistance," Berry noted. "We should probably leave. It's been over 6 hours, and it's apparently mating season. A wild Goomy tried to mate with me and attacked Shab."

"You ran into another Goomy? I wonder if it was the same one I saw earlier, before that Absol had shown up," Dust wondered.

"You can wonder about it later, for now, let's go before more Pokemon show up," Shab suggested.

"Right, hop on then, I think we've done enough research for today," Dust said as he crouched close to the ground.

The female Absol managed to regain consciousness in time to see a Goomy with a red scarf and a Feebas on its head slithering on the handsome Absol's back. She managed to push herself up to her feet just as the handsome Absol ran off with the Goomy on his back. She blinked, confused, wondering why he was willing to let the slimey Pokemon mess up his fur like that. She wondered for a moment, and began to think maybe that was how he got his fur all nice, shiny, and soft.

The Absol looked around for a moment, before spotting another Goomy slithering about, looking rather sad about something. The Absol approached the Goomy, which grabbed the Goomy's attention. Most Pokemon would run from the sight of an Absol, but this Goomy seemed to not care enough to flee, instead, he just looked up at her curiously. The Absol smiled before deciding to make a proposal to the Goomy.

* * *

"You knew it was mating season… and you didn't bother to warn us?!" Berry snapped at the two Ponyta when they reached the stables.

"Hey, he's supposed to be the genius!" Sunny countered, shoving a hoof in Dust's direction. "We'd figured that Dust would have at least known about mating season before coming here."

"While I do appreciate the compliment, I've only read about how Pokemon react when in heat, but I never learned about when mating season would be," Dust pointed out.

"We may have forgotten to mention it ourselves. We sort of assumed you two would know about it already," Twilight guiltily admitted.

"Well… we do now," Berry sighed. "I don't think we can get anymore research done if we're trying not to attract the opposite gender of our species or… Mew forbid, egg groups. Perhaps we should come back at another time, when the mating season is over with to do more research."

Shab was slowly munching on an Oran Berry that Dust had given him after they had reached the stables. It was the first time Dust discovered Feebas do have teeth, which surprised him since he thought most Fish Pokemon didn't have teeth.

"Well, despite some setbacks, I think we've done some pretty good research. Did you two see anything noteworthy while underwater?" Dust asked, already having his notepad out, ready to jot down notes.

"Oh do we ever!" Berry burst out in excitement.

Berry immediately began telling Dust of her and Shab's experience underwater. They couldn't find that small school of Dratini, but they did find all sorts of unusual Pokemon living in the lake. Like the Clamperl that usually lived in deep ocean were living in the lake. But the one Berry described in most detail was a beautiful serpent water dragon-like Pokemon that she heard Shab called a Milotic.

Dust was excitingly writing down every word Berry said, pausing to ask a question about one of the Pokemon she was describing. But he was completely amazed when Berry mentioned Milotic, writing down even more notes with each passing second.

"To think you two would come across a Pokemon like that!" Dust exclaimed. "Oh, you mentioned that you also came across a male Goomy. Tell me, what was the interaction like?"

Berry shivered as she remembered how the interaction went. She explained to Dust how the Goomy was checking her out, then tasted her goo like Shab liked to do, then suddenly he decided he wanted her as his mate. Shab tried to fight him so Berry could go find Dust, but the Goomy was too strong for the Feebas, so Berry had to tackle the Goomy away before he sucked Shab dry with Absorb. Berry mentioned how the Goomy seemed to understand her when she told him that Shab was her friend, and wanted her to mate with him before Dust and the Absol came running in.

"So I take it your experience with the female Absol was pretty much the same?" Berry remarked.

"Pretty much. When I first saw the Absol, well I was pretty surprised. The only other Absol I've ever seen was my mother. Though this Absol was much smaller compared to her," Dust explained as he continued. "After our brief encounter, she clanged her horn against mine. At first I thought it was a natural greeting between wild Absol, but seeing the way she reacted afterwards, I think she was checking my age."

"What does your horn have to do with your age?" Shab asked.

"Oh, well interesting fact, when an Absol hatches, they don't have their horn at first. Instead it grows as we do, until we reach a mature age," Dust answered as he tapped his own horn. "The older an Absol, the more durable their horns are."

"Wow, I never knew that about Absol," Berry remarked.

"Heh, yes, it is a rather interesting," Dust chuckled a bit before getting very serious. "But what's more interesting is that Shab was able to speak with a Wild Pokemon! Shab! You must teach me how to communicate with Wild Pokemon! I must learn their secrets! Think of all the possibilities if I could communicate with them!"

Shab swallowed the last of his Oran Berry before looking at Dust. "The 'ancient language' as you called it is easy. It's your language that's complex and difficult to learn. Every wild Pokemon has an innate language and dialect they can speak. I can speak to other Fish Pokemon, and Water Pokemon are pretty easy to understand too. However, it is harder for me to understand land Pokemon. Flying Pokemon are the hardest for me to understand, they might as well be speaking a completely different language. From what I could gather during my time in education, civilized Pokemon loses that innate language, instead, they learn this complex language instead."

Dust started writing more in his notepad after hearing Shab's explanation. "Amazing, to think that each wild Pokemon had their own language. This means that there is a whole network of dialect among the wild Pokemon. I would still like to learn about your language and anything related. For now it would be a start, but I think with time we could be able to better understand wild Pokemon in the future!"

"How about we save more research note taking on the way back to the guild. I rather not have another potential mate deciding they like my goo too," Berry sighed.

"Agreed," Dust nodded. "Despite the setback and only having six hours to spend here, I think we've done quite the job for our first Research Mission. I look forward to when we can take another one."

"Alright, then you two get into the Carriage and we'll get back to White Leaf Town," Sunny sighed.

Dust hopped into the Carriage before Berry sat on the other side. Twilight and Sunny began galloping down the dirt path.

As they were galloping, Berry gave a shocked gasp. "Dust, look over there!"

Dust followed Berry's gaze and gasped at what he saw. "How is that even possible?!"

The wild Absol and Goomy they saw earlier were together. The Absol was running with the Goomy on her back, who seemed to be having fun.

Dust began taking some notes as he watched the Absol and Goomy. "Perhaps one of them had seen us, with you on my back. That would explain where they got the idea from, but that still doesn't explain why they did it in the first place."

"Seems like it's a type of symbiotic relationship," Shab replied. "I remember seeing some wild Pokemon working with other Pokemon, even though they were a different kind. Both would benefit from the other, so maybe that's what the Absol and Goomy are doing."

"Two different species working together," Dust noted. "And to think earlier they wanted to mate with us."

"I think they're also doing it because we did," Berry remarked. "Perhaps they're also hoping this will get our attention. But who knows, maybe they'll find mates that will appreciate them for their symbiotic relationship."

As the two Ponyta crossed the bridge, and were heading out of the Wild Area, Berry's mind wandered to their conversation this morning. She remembered how upset she made Dust when she yelled at him about how that supposed 'future' they saw in the Strange Mansion wasn't true, or the Goodra wasn't her. She hadn't meant to make it sound like she was accusing him of replacing her, she just didn't want to accept the possibility that Goodra _could_ be her.

Taking a deep breath, and letting it out, the Goomy looked at Dust. "Hey Dust…"

Dust turned to Berry, noticing that something was deep in her mind. "Yes, Berry?"

Berry noticed that Shab had fallen asleep, likely exhausted from today's events, and recovering from his battle with the wild Goomy earlier. Berry carefully placed Shab down on the seat beside her before she continued. "About this morning… I just wanted to say I'm sorry, for snapping at you about the future we saw in the Strange Mansion, and making it sound like I was accusing you of leaving me for the Goodra. I know… you would never do that… I just… didn't want to accept the possibility that Goodra could be… well… me."

Dust was shocked to see Berry opening up. He turned away as he looked at the open sky before replying. "Do you remember what I said? When we were at White Peak during Princess Day?"

Berry looked up at Dust. "Yes, I do. You said you would support me no matter what I decide to do, if I choose to evolve or not."

"And that still remains true. No matter what you decided, I will always support you, because you are my friend," Dust remained silent for a moment before speaking up again. "Earlier today you asked me why I wasn't so worried about death. I told you it was because of that future version of me that we saw. Truth is, I was actually terrified at the thought of dying. To think that if it wasn't for Giratina, I wouldn't really be here right now. But when I think about that future version of me, it gives me hope. I don't know how far in the future that version was, but I noticed he seemed… happier. It gives me comfort knowing that I still might have a future, one where you and me are still partners and friends."

Berry was silent for a little while, she seemed to be debating on what to say to that.

"Seeing you be so determined to deny it, calling it an illusion, it makes it confusing for me. I know I would support you in your decision, and I can tell that you are not comfortable with the idea of evolving, but at the same time I wonder if I should forget about that future and give up," Dust continued.

"I understand that the future we saw in the Strange Mansion gives you hope, Dust," Berry finally said. "However, we both know that the future isn't set in stone. What we saw could've been a vision of a _possible_ future, not a guaranteed one. But…"

Berry gave Dust a small smile. "That doesn't mean it still can't come true. Maybe it won't come true exactly like how we saw it, like me being a Goodra, but we can still make it happen. We carve our own future, and I know you're not dying any time soon, Dust."

"I know the future holds the unknown," Dust finally replied before turning to face Berry once more. He gave her a smile as he hugged her. "But it's nice knowing that we will be facing it together. Thank you, Berry."

"And thank you, Dust, for always being a supportive friend," Berry replied back in a grateful tone.

* * *

**Greatest Guy****: DarkFoxKit:** Wow, we really did break you with those doors, because there are probably dozens of puns you could've made regarding them. XP

**Chihiro: **Well some of the best perks when becoming a ghost is that many _doors_ are open for you. Though by then, you don't even really need them, since we can easily float past them.

**FoxyKhai0209****: Traveling Master: **Ah yes, the classic "opening the door on a female without meaning to joke," it was quite hilarious when we were writing this chapter. We had lots of fun.

**Dust: **I didn't! Do you think anyone wants to see what I saw?! I'm still trying to get that image out of my head!

**DarkFoxKit:** Yeah, the one with the Mew and the blue child was indeed from Child of Mew. Thought it would be funny to put that in as a cameo. The Digimon thing was my idea, thought it would be funny to have the two see each other even if it was for a brief moment, and I am a fan of both franchises, so I know they are very different from each other. As for Mimi… you'll have to wait and see.

**Charming Dew****: Traveling Master: **XD Yup, I think they were confusing for everyone too. Oh, and be careful, that almost sounded like a pun. We already have an issue with Chihiro popping up for one of our reviewers, I don't think we can handle her showing up for-

**Chihiro: **Too late! And that was a good pun if I say so myself. It was very _Charming_ if you ask me. So I suggest you _Dew_ some more, puns are what make the world go round!

**Traveling Master: **...And there she goes...Oh boy.

**Pretty Princess****: Traveling Master: **Funny thing about the doors is that the idea actually came from two things. One from Scooby Doo, whenever there was a chase scene and it showed the gang running through multiple doors. The other was Teen Titans. If you have seen the episode Mad Maud, there's a scene where there's lots of doors, and things get really crazy from that point. So that's where we got the idea from for the doors.

**Moonlight Spark****: DarkFoxKit:** Too bad there aren't any Ghostbusters in this universe. ^^' So who are you going to call instead?

**Traveling Master: **CRUSADERS!...I don't know, it doesn't have the same ring to it like Ghostbuster does.

**Diamond Nourish****: Traveling Master: **Oh boy, so just as there was a cameo from DF's story, Child of Mew, I decided to throw a little cameo of my own. You see, before this story, I was struggling on my own to come up with a story for Dust. And trust me, there were a lot of versions. That Absol Dust had encountered was a different version of him, and things were a lot darker in that story. Will any of us see that version of Dust again...I don't think so, but who knows, maybe something might change. Only _time_ will tell.

**Dino Roar299****: DarkFoxKit:** Yes, Detective Pikachu~

**Lucy Wing971****: Traveling Master: **Yup, he was being possessed by Giratina, though it actually saved his life. As Giratina explained before, had he not possessed Dust, the Absol would have truly died. But it does also have to do with the mystical gift Dust was given, if he didn't have that gift, Giratina would most likely not have shown up to save the day.

**Guest****: DarkFoxKit:** TM actually answered that one with the Absol, but to make it brief, it's basically an alternate, much darker, more apocalyptic and edgier version of Dust. A story that TM thought of at one point but never saw the light of day. As for Berry using Water Pulse, we're not strictly using levels here. Think of this running more on the Pokemon anime logic. Pokemon will learn moves when they experienced something or had gotten strong enough, which is what happened to Berry. So for your sake, and our's, don't think of them at being a certain level, because it will seem inconsistent if you do. We will have them learn certain moves when we feel it serves the story better or their characters, not what their levels are on.

I should probably point this out, because I guess we didn't make it very clear in the story. Berry knows she's a Dragon type, deep down. She's just in denial of it. There's a difference between not knowing and not wanting to know.

I can't say how long it would take before Berry acknowledges that she's a Dragon type, but she already acknowledged she is indeed a Goomy and not a Wooper.

**Ruby Spice****: Traveling Master: **Heh, well that language was written in Wingdings format, and that skeleton was Gaster himself, from the game Undertale.

**DarkFoxKit:** We don't remember the exact message, but basically he was saying 'you two are very interesting species, what are you?' I hope that satisfies you.

**Ivory Snowflake****: Traveling Master: **Well the event that had caused humans to disappear long ago had such a big effect on everyone else, so it's a shame that they were trapped for so long. Good thing That Dust and Berry ended up being invited to their mansion.

And as Mimi explained, these doors do lead to different time lines, different dimensions and such. We couldn't pass the opportunity to throw in that little tidbit with us. Good thing DF closed the door, else Dust would've figured out certain things he isn't supposed to know...yet.

**Midnight Mark****: DarkFoxKit:** Maybe Mimi will join them in the future, only time will tell.

**The Moonfox Collective****: DarkFoxKit:** Parallel to what? ^^' And yes, we couldn't help ourselves, we wanted to put in all the references. :D I'm glad you like Mimi. Dust is… pretty much a trouble magnet. And oh dear, you just shrugged off being shot to the forehead I see. ^^'

**Lonleyboi69****: Traveling Master: **With so many references, it might as well be. XD. Glad you liked the chapter.

***Static finally stops, revealing a ruined building. After a couple seconds the rubble started to shift as I managed to climb out. I was completely covered in soot, coughing as I try to breathe in some clear air.***

**Traveling Master: *Coughs* **...Okay...note to self...don't handle the fireworks...Let someone else do that job...


	25. Chapter 25: The Days that Pass

**DarkFoxKit:** So… what have we learned about messing with fireworks, TM?

**Traveling Master: **That Charmeleon shouldn't be anywhere near fireworks. Okay, I already helped repair the house, and I'll make sure not to mess with fireworks again...until next year.

**DarkFoxKit:** Or until New Years anyways. At least it wouldn't be blazing hot by then. Maybe I can ask Mew to put your tail flame in a bubble or something.

**Traveling Master: **That or just have someone else handle the fireworks.

**Dust: **Oh, can I-

**Traveling Master: **NO!

**DarkFoxKit:** Who else can handle the fireworks though? I've never handled them before. Parents wouldn't let me.

**Chihiro:** I can work with fire~

**Traveling Master: **I don't know how to feel with a ghost dragon handling the fireworks, but anything is better than Dust. So Chihiro, you're in charge of fireworks next time!

**Chihiro:** I'll be sure to have fun with that~

**DarkFoxKit:** We really need to build a stronger fourth wall, all these characters keep sneaking into the AN...

**Traveling Master: **Well Dust always had a knack for getting past the fourth wall and Chihiro is a ghost, so I guess that makes sense. We only had the one problem when Dust ***I glared daggers at him*** decided to bring everyone in here!

**Dust: **Hey, it made the AN a lot more interesting! You should let me break the fourth wall more often.

**DarkFoxKit:** No! I had to do a lot of cleaning after what you did before! Next time, you'll be the one cleaning! But I'm going to make sure there isn't a 'next time'!

**Dust: **I wouldn't be so sure about that. The fourth wall can be a fickle thing. Very fragile, and anyone, not just me, can easily break it. Of course I try to do it myself since it's always interesting to see the after effects, but I'm willing to let others give it a go.

**DarkFoxKit: **Uh-huh… TM, I'm going to mix up something special for Dust. You keep him entertained.

**Traveling Master: **Uh...Hey Dust...so what have you learned so far about the fourth wall?

**Chihiro: *Pushes the readers to the chapter*** Go on, get to the chapter now.

* * *

**Chapter 25: The Days that Pass**

"Wow, this is much better than the food they bring us!" Shab complimented before taking another bite out of the meal that was in front of him.

Team Night Tide had recently returned to Unity Guild. Chihiro was both impressed and amused after hearing their little adventure in the Wild Area. She especially laughed when they mentioned how a wild Absol and Goomy had tried to mate with them. After congratulating on their first Research Mission, the trio decided to stop by the cafeteria, all hungry from today's events.

"You never had the cafeteria food before?" Dust asked in between bites.

"Nope, the ones in charge of teaching us brought us food, but they were all about the same, basic meals," Shab answered. "Who makes this stuff anyways?"

"It depends on who's working in the kitchen," Berry answered. "A Milcery who goes by the name Cupcake usually works here, though sometimes a Lucario named Brody will be working here as well. He's the one I told you about, the one who swoons all the ladies."

"You don't say," Shab replied as he turned towards the kitchen. "I have to meet him!"

"Hmm? Why?" Berry asked at Shab's sudden enthusiasm.

Shab started to nervously sweat until he came up with an idea. "Well his food is so delicious, that I wanted to learn more about the food he makes. In a way, the taste almost reminds me of your slime, though nothing could even match your heavenly slime."

"My slime is pretty toxic, make sure you eat Pecha Berries or drink Pecha Juice so you don't get poisoned," Berry warned.

"I'll make sure to grab a Pecha Berry when I go meet with Brody," Shab replied as he left the table and started heading towards the kitchen.

As Shab got nearer to the kitchen, he saw steam coming from within, most likely the meals that were being prepared. Shab went to the back of the line where others would wait to order their food, luckily most had already gotten their meals, so Shab didn't have to wait too long until he next in line. On the other side, Shab saw a Milcery, most likely Cupcake, waiting to take his order.

"How may I help you?" Cupcake asked.

"I was actually hoping if I could speak with Brody?" Shab asked.

Cupcake groaned. "What did he do now?"

"Nothing, I actually just wanted to ask him for some advice," Shab answered.

"Oh?" Cupcake asked, surprised. "Advice for what exactly?"

Shab started to blush as he thought about Berry. "...I heard he's really good at swooning the ladies and there's this certain one I keep thinking about. I want to win her heart over."

Cupcake was about to answer when suddenly the sound of banging pots and plates shattering had cut her off. More banging, objects falling over, and food being spilled on the ground caused Cupcake to groan once more as a Lucario finally burst out the kitchen door. Brody was covered in all sort of food, his fur slightly mangled, his apron torn, but that didn't stop him from marching up to Shab.

"Seriously Brody? Now I'm going to have to clean all of that up!" Cupcake hissed as she floated to the back.

"I'm sorry my love, I will clean that up myself, but first," Brody then picked up Shab, bringing him up to his eye level. "Is it true? Do you truly wish to seek my help to win the heart of someone you love?!"

The Feebas nodded. "Yes, I do. I heard you were good at swooning the ladies, so I was hoping you could help me swoon the girl of my dreams. She deserves nothing less than the best from me!"

"My dear Feebas, I recognize your noble and just cause and I will do everything in my power to help you win this fair maiden over. Tell me, who is the lucky female that has touched your heart?" Brody asked.

Shab was blushing as he looked back at where Team Night Tide was eating. "It's… heh… it's Berry, the Goomy from Team Night Tide."

"Berry? The fair maiden of Team Night Tide? Who's bravery is greater than any female I've ever seen? Who's beauty makes the stars pale in comparison? That Berry?" Brody asked.

Shab nodded, started to worry that this Lucario might actually have feelings for Berry.

"Oh what joyous day! To think that Berry has won over your heart. We haven't a moment to lose! I will help you in your pursuit of love!" Brody shouted while hugging Shab.

"You will? But, aren't you in love with Berry?" Shab asked.

"My dear Feebas, I think all females are maiden who deserve all the love I can muster. I do love Berry, but it is nothing compared to the love you have for her. I could sense it the moment you thought about her," Brody remarked.

At that, Shab blushed hotly. "Th-then, I'm honored to have you help me, Master Brody! I… I do have a plan though. I remember seeing Berry's eyes sparkle in awe when she saw a Milotic for the first time. She doesn't appear to be aware of my evolution, however. So I'm hoping to evolve into a Milotic to surprise her and grant her wish of seeing a Milotic again."

Brody gasped. "Are you telling me that your kind are able to evolve into the majestic Pokemon, Milotic?"

"Yup!" Shab smiled proudly before frowning. "But it's very difficult for a Feebas to evolve. It normally takes years for one Feebas to evolve, that is assuming we survive that long in the wild."

"Then my young apprentice, as I teach you the ways of swooning the females, we will also work on getting you to evolve!" Brody exclaimed.

"Brody, I rather you didn't teach him your bad habits, and you're speaking too loud. Shab did say he wanted his evolution to be a surprise," Cupcake grumbled as she floated back to them. "There is an easier and faster way to get you to evolve, Shab. You can wear a Prism Scarf that will continuously make you more beautiful every day until you've reached the point where it will trigger your evolution. And while Brody is free to give you tips on how to treat a lady, you can also go overboard and overwhelm Berry, which is something you don't want to do."

"Okay, so we have a solution for my evolution, I still wish to impress Berry and show her how much she truly means to me," Shab said.

"Worry not, through my teachings we will help you," Brody replied.

"We? What do you mean we?" Cupcake asked.

"It's as you said, while I may be an expert when it comes to treating ladies, I do rather have some unfortunate bad habits. And I don't want to risk our friend's chance at winning Berry over. So with your help, I know we can help him achieve his goal," Brody explained. "Only someone as smart as you could truly help us. So please, help me help this Feebas."

Cupcake sighed before seeing Shab lowering his head to her. "Alright, alright, I'll see what I can do to help. But even after everything we teach you, even after you evolve, you shouldn't expect Berry to return those feelings, okay? The last thing you should do is make someone feel like they're obligated to return your feelings when they don't truly have those feelings."

"I understand," Shab answered.

"Good~ Brody, do you still have that Prism Scarf your team got as a reward for saving that Carbink last month?" Cupcake asked.

"I left it in our storage, so it should still be there. I'll make sure to grab it later today," Brody answered.

"With the Prism Scarf, you should be able to evolve in less than a year as long as you wear it all the time," Cupcake chuckled.

Shab smiled before he started to flop around excitedly. "Thank you so much!"

* * *

The next morning, Dust, Berry, and Cliff noticed that Shab was wearing a silver scarf with blue, pink, and red colors on it on his tail fin.

Dust asked him about it, and Shab just said it was a gift from a friend.

Deciding it wasn't that important, they decided to go on their daily rescue missions. Leaving Cliff with Carrie, and Shab got to learn the ropes. Shab, of course, couldn't learn any good moves on his own. All he had was Tackle, Splash, and Flail. Dust decided to try to teach Shab how to use Ice Beam, since he was sure a Feebas could learn Ice Beam from what he read in the books about them.

After they finished their rescue missions, Dust and Berry took Shab to the Dojo to train. Cliff would follow and watch them. Dust began his arduous process of teaching Shab how to use Ice Beam without a T.M. Berry decided to work on her own moves while in the Dojo. Cliff was watching them, seeming to want to join in.

Days passed, Team Night Tide continued with their missions every day. Getting more rewards, Poke, and rank points. They knew they had more than enough to participate in this month's upcoming tournament, but it couldn't hurt to keep building up those points, as well as helping Pokemon in need while getting some decent rewards out of it.

Dust, Berry, Shab, and Cliff go to the Dojo more often these days, wanting to get ready for the tournament.

* * *

Shab was beside Cliff, he had to watch her while Berry and Dust were sparring with each other. Berry shot out a Dragon Breath at Dust while Dust shot out an Ice Beam, both attacks hit each other. To their surprise, it seemed to have created an icy dragon breath, which shattered and made some sparkles fall.

"You two certainly have gotten stronger," Vesper noted.

"Thanks, we've been working hard to get stronger," Dust remarked.

"Heh, let me guess; you're preparing for the upcoming tournament, right?" The Corviknight asked.

"That is correct. Ever since we had received that letter to the Strange Mansion, we've had more than enough points to participate. So we've been focusing more on training as we get closer to the tournament," Dust explained.

"We're hoping to get Bronze or maybe Silver Rank," Berry stated. "Though Dust is aiming for the Gold."

"That is quite the feat, a rather difficult one too," Vesper noted. "I believe the last group to achieve this was your mother, Eclipse, and her partner."

Dust nodded. "Yes, mother is quite impressive, but I'm sure that we might be able to achieve the same thing."

Shab and Cliff came up onto the arena seeing how the sparring was over for the time being.

"That was an excellent spar. Berry, you were battling as gracefully as always~" Shab complimented.

"Mommy is strong. Daddy got strong too!" Cliff smiled. "I wanna be strong too!"

"They sure are strong, especially Berry~" Shab remarked.

"Can I fight in tournament too?" Cliff asked.

Dust and Berry hesitated at that.

"We appreciate your enthusiasm, Cliff, but the tournament is going to have a lot of very strong Pokemon," Berry warned. "Perhaps you can join in a tournament with us when you're older and have grown stronger yourself."

"Aww," Cliff grumbled.

Dust then went and picked her up and put her on his back, noticing how easier it was to carry her now. "Hey, don't worry, we all have to start off somewhere. Did you know that in my first sparring match, my opponent knocked me out in one hit?"

"Really? Daddy was knocked out by one hit?" Cliff asked, surprised. "But Daddy is strong! How?"

"Well I wasn't very strong back then. But ever since that loss, I've been training and getting stronger and stronger. Sometimes I worked a little too hard and ended up having to rest for a long time," Dust gave a warm smile to Berry. "But thanks to my friends, I've been able to improve."

"Did you ever fight that Pokemon again?" Cliff asked.

"No, he did not. Instead he would coward and back down," A new voice answered, causing everyone to turn to the newcomer.

Dust and Berry were surprised to see Crimson and Blizza enter the Dojo. It had been a while since they had spoken with Team Crimson Raiders, not that Dust and Berry were complaining. But to suddenly see them show up had caught them by surprise.

"Dust, it's been awhile," Crimson called out. "You seem to have been keeping busy now."

"Well you should know that the life of a Crusader can be busy," Dust remarked. But then his eyes moved towards the Hakamo-o. Dust recalled Berry telling him that Blizza had evolved, but he still couldn't hide his amazement at seeing her.

"Take a picture, it'll last much longer," Blizza replied as she noticed Dust looking at her.

Blizza then looked at the Goomy beside Dust. She saw the Feebas on her head and started laughing. "Look at you! How much more pathetic can you be? Having such an ugly fish on your head like it's some kind of hat?"

Berry glared at the Hakamo-o. "Hey! This is Shab, and he's a new teammate of our's! I know the concept is a bit foreign to you, Blizza, but at least show a tiny bit of respect!"

"Oh, I know all about respect!" Blizza took a step towards Berry. "I've practically had the thing shoved down my throat my whole life, so don't be preaching about respect, not until you've proven yourself."

"I was talking about Shab, you scaley bone head," Berry muttered.

"You wanna say that again?" Blizza challenged, only for Crimson to raise his arms and block her.

"Blizza, save it for the tournament, we didn't come here to fight," Crimson said.

"So why are you here?" Dust asked.

"To congratulate you," Crimson answered. "You two have made quite the reputation, and to find out that you'll be participating in the tournament this time, well I for one was shocked to hear that. Maybe we might end up fighting against each other. Wouldn't that be nice, a rematch between Team Crimson Raiders and Team Night Tide?"

Blizza cracked her knuckles. "I've been waiting for a chance to redeem myself after my embarrassing loss to this little gooey creature."

Berry was both intimidated and angry at Blizza's comment. Dust on the other hand felt different. Before, whenever they had come across Team Crimson Raiders, Dust had always felt nervous and intimidated. And even though he still had those same feelings, Dust noticed a new feeling welling up inside. One of anticipation, his body was actually itching for a fight, one that Dust had been both dreading and looking forward to for a long time now.

"... Why is that big dragon so mean to Mommy?" Cliff asked Dust.

"Where did you find a Larvitar?" Crimson asked, looking at Cliff sitting on Dust's back.

"I came across her egg when we were in the Phoenix Desert Dungeon, though at the time I thought it was a special kind of rock. She hatched some time after I had taken it back to the guild," Dust explained.

Crimson studied the Larvitar a bit more, Cliff gave a challenging glare at the Zoroark. "Impressive, to think you would find such a rare Pokemon. A shame that she ended up being hatched by you, but I supposed luck was on your side. You've found yourself a very fine addition to your team."

Berry was about to respond, but Dust had beat her by taking a threatening position. "Do not talk about Cliff like she's some random item."

For a brief moment, Dust's blue eye had glowed, only for it to return back to normal. It happened so fast hardly anyone else had noticed.

"Whatever, you've both always been way too sentimental, no wonder you can't get very strong," Blizza huffed before she looked at Berry. "I would've expected you to have evolved by now with all that training you supposedly did, not to mention the reputation you two have been building up lately. But you still disappoint me."

"I don't need to evolve to be strong enough to defeat you," Berry glared.

Shab was frowning, but stayed quiet.

"You better not disappoint me further, cause I'm coming at you with everything I got!" Blizza shouted.

"I look forward to our battle then," Crimson added, looking at Dust. "Show me what you can do now that you're not such a weakling anymore."

Crimson and Blizza then walked away, heading to another section of the Dojo to train.

"They're… quite intense…" Shab noted.

"Well...they aren't Silver Rank for nothing," Dust replied. "They're definitely strong, but it's like you said, Berry. True strength doesn't come from pure power."

"What makes someone truly strong is if they choose to use their power and strength to help the weak. And…" Berry looked back at Dust. "Isn't that what being a Crusader is all about? We get strong so we can help the weak and helpless."

"They're still meanie buttfaces," Cliff pouted.

Dust laughed at Cliff's remark, feeling better now. "That's right Cliff, they are meanie buttfaces."

"Then we'll have to show those 'meanie buttfaces' how strong we can be," Shab decided. "That Hakamo-o have no right to speak to Berry that way!"

"I do admire your determination, but there's one thing you should know," Vesper spoke up, getting all their attention. "You won't know who your opponents are until the day of the tournament. And even then, there still might be a chance you may not even fight Team Crimson Raiders. The battle between teams are chosen at random, so there's no guarantee you'll be able to fight them unless the two of your teams managed to get chosen to battle each other or you make it to the finals with them."

"Knowing our luck, we probably will end up battling them anyways," Berry sighed. "Not to mention even if we don't, there's still going to be a lot of strong Pokemon battling to raise up their ranks."

"Just remember all the training you had, all the experiences you've acquired and you will do fine," Vesper commented. "Remember, even if you lose, doesn't mean that you still can't increase your rank. The purpose of the tournament is to show others how well you coordinate as a team, strategize against your opponents. Show them how much you have grown."

"Then that is what we will do," Dust agreed.

"I've almost mastered the Ice Beam attack," Shab stated. "Just a little more training, and I'll be able to use it for sure!"

"Can I train too?" Cliff asked. "I wanna be strong too!"

"Perhaps you can start with the basics, little one," Vesper chuckled, seeing the Larvitar's enthusiasm. "There's a training ground for young Pokemon like you to begin their training if you're that eager to train."

"Then I'll train!" Cliff smiled. "Make Mommy and Daddy proud!"

"Are you sure, Cliff?" Berry asked in concern.

"Yes! Mommy and Daddy are training hard, Uncle Shab is training hard too. I will train hard to be strong too!" Cliff answered.

* * *

Over the next week or so, Team Night Tide had been training themselves hard. They completed the hardest missions their ranking would allow in order to train themselves against the wild Pokemon and the Mystery Dungeon. Shab had managed to use Ice Beam through Dust's teaching, so they didn't need to waste Poke buying a T.M. for it.

Berry would have Dust try to hit her with his Ice Beam attack, so she could get used to the super effective Ice type attack hitting her. As Berry withstood the attack, she noticed her body was getting stronger. At first, she thought maybe she was learning a new move. However, she couldn't seem to use any new moves at all. Berry did work on her Sludge Bomb more, dividing the purple ball into several smaller balls so she would be able to hit her target with the poisonous balls easier. Dust had been working on his Iron Tail as well. Cliff was working on her basic attacks with Vesper and Carrie, Carrie decided to help teach Cliff a few moves when she heard Cliff wanted to train to get stronger. Chloe would mimic her mother's moves in her pouch.

Berry started trying to condense her Dragon Breath again. Though she still couldn't quite get it right like when she was in her outburst mode as they had taken to call it. Still, Berry did notice her moves have gotten stronger, and her body was able to take hits more often than before. Things were starting to look up for them.

However, later that night after the last day of training…

"So tomorrow is when the tournament will begin?" Shab asked as they got settled in their room.

"That's right. To think a month has already gone by. And to think it was only about a month ago when I had almost…" Dust paused when he looked at Cliff. "When I had recovered from my accident. A lot has happened since then."

"We've all grown pretty strong in a month," Berry chuckled.

"Strong! Win tournament!" Cliff smiled.

"While winning the tournament would be nice, we should also remember we need to show how well we can work together if we want our rank raised," Berry reminded.

"We've been working on our teamwork pretty well, especially in the Mystery Dungeons," Shab noted. "We should be good. We're definitely getting a Bronze at the very least. Your new Bronze badge will shine just as brightly as you, my lovely Berry~"

"While Bronze isn't bad, we shouldn't settle for minimal effort either," Dust commented. "We should shoot for the very best we can do, visualize your goal, set plans for it and you'll be able to achieve them. Instead of thinking that we'll get Bronze at the very least, we should be thinking of aiming for Gold."

"Gold! Gold is pretty." Cliff smiled.

"We'll definitely be trying our best, Dust, but Gold might be reaching too high for us," Berry remarked. "I'm not saying it's impossible, but it's… very unlikely we'll get Gold."

"I know, our chances are pretty slim, but we should still give it our best shot as though we can achieve Gold," Dust replied.

"I wouldn't mind being at Gold rank so early in my career, the gold badge would shine even brighter! Of course it would still pale in comparison to Berry~" Shab grinned.

"Heh," Berry chuckled. "It's going to be pretty nerve wracking though. Battling with wild Pokemon and other teams and training are one thing, but we'll be doing that in front of a lot of Pokemon, especially important Pokemon that come from all sorts of guilds. Oooh, I hope we don't make fools of ourselves out there…"

"I guess the best advice I can give is to just remember why you are there in the first place," Dust commented. "If I constantly thought about what others would think of me every time I was about to perform an experiment, well I wouldn't really be doing any. Just remember to give it your best shot, forget the crowd, those important Pokemon, and I promise you that you will do well."

"Besides, they'll be too distracted by your beauty to care if you made a mistake, Berry," Shab reassured.

Berry blinked, she never thought about herself as beautiful, but Shab had been giving her compliments like that since his talk with Brody.

"Mommy will do well out there." Cliff smiled.

Berry smiled a little. "Thanks everyone. We should get some sleep though, we don't want to be too exhausted for the tournament tomorrow."

Everyone agreed to that. Shab went into the pot of water to sleep. Berry decided to sleep on her bed again since Shab needed to sleep in the water. Cliff liked sleeping with Dust because she liked how soft and warm his fur was, so Berry didn't need to worry about poisoning Cliff.

However, in the middle of the night while they were sleeping, something was bothering Berry.

In Berry's dream, she saw a silhouette in front of her. The silhouette started becoming more solid as it turned to her. Berry backed away from it.

"_Who are you…?"_ Berry asked.

The silhouette approached her, it appeared to be a big slug of some kind. "_I'm you."_

Berry slithered back, feeling scared. The silhouette kept approaching her. "_You can't be me, you're bigger than me, you look different than I do. What do you want?"_

"_I'm here to show you 'you'. The real you," _The silhouette answered as they continued going towards Berry.

"_No, stay back!"_ Berry demanded before she quickly turned to slither away from the silhouette.

However, when Berry did turn, she wasn't in the guild anymore, she found herself back in Waterfall Cavern. Berry let out a gasp before she jumped into a water, hoping to swim away from the silhouette.

The water and the cavern were surprisingly empty. It was eerily empty. Berry didn't like it, it was as if every Pokemon had vanished from the face of the earth. As Berry swam, it got darker and darker. There was a little bit of light above her, however, and she quickly swam up to it.

As soon as Berry came up to the surface, she saw an exit to the cavern. She could already see Spring Swamp on the other side. However, she also saw that Goodra again that was near the exit. Berry stopped, not sure what to do. Then something else came up from the water behind her. Turning around, Berry gasped when she saw that silhouette had followed her.

"_You can't run from who you are," _The silhouette said, their voice seeming to echo all around. "_Come, resign yourself to your fate."_

Berry, in a desperate attempt to get the silhouette to go away, shot out a Dragon Breath attack. The silhouette did the same, however, the silhouette's Dragon Breath was far stronger than Berry's. It easily overpowered Berry's Dragon Breath. Berry yelped as she was hit and pushed back by the stronger attack. Her body felt numb though, she didn't feel any pain, but she felt tired.

Now lying on the ground, the silhouette towered over her. The voice sounded clearer than before.

"_You've always been afraid of who you really are. Afraid that you will turn into a monster," _The silhouette said. "_You won't be able to hold back for much longer, accept yourself for who you truly are."_

It was then Berry recognized that voice as her own. The silhouette was nearly on top of her at this point. Berry's eyes widened as the silhouette began to melt on her.

* * *

Berry woke up to a sudden surge of power. There was a bright light that was lighting up the dark room. The others were still asleep, except for Cliff, who opened her eyes sleepily, seeing the light that was surrounding the Goomy.

"Mommy… glowing…?" Cliff asked groggily.

Berry's eyes widened when she realized where the light was coming from. She looked down at her body, seeing that it was glowing in white light. The light was getting brighter around her, soon bathing her body in white and blue light. Berry quickly shut her eyes and struggled to hold back the surge of power, trying to bury it. The glowing light that had bathed Berry's body started to dim as Berry buried the power. The glow kept dimming until it was flickering on her body before it finally faded. Berry panted tiredly, but she was still a Goomy.

"What happened?" Dust asked as he sat up, still half tired. "Did something happen? Was there a bright light just now?"

"No…" Berry spoke up. "No… just… just go back to sleep, Dust."

"Well if you insist," Dust yawned before laying back down.

Cliff gave a curious look to Berry. Berry gave Cliff a small smile. "Just go to sleep, Cliff, nothing's going on with Mommy."

"Okay Mommy," Cliff yawned before laying against Dust's fur once more.

Berry frowned to herself, hoping she wouldn't suddenly evolve again in the middle of the night, or ever.

* * *

It was early the next morning. Dust was carrying Berry and Shab. Cliff had started walking on her own, and decided to walk beside her 'daddy'.

"Berry… are you okay?" Dust asked in concern as he was heading to Chihiro's office. "You're looking a little…"

Berry yawned, her mouth stretching out as she did. Her eyes looked tired.

"... Exhausted," Dust finished.

"Did you not get enough beauty sleep last night, Berry?" Shab asked in concern.

"Maybe Mommy's glowing thing made her tired," Cliff suggested.

"Glowing? Berry, you were glowing?" Dust asked.

"She's always glowing in my eyes~" Shab commented.

"It's nothing to worry about," Berry answered, rubbing her right eye with her right antenna. "Just give me an Oran Berry to wake me up."

"Wouldn't a Chesto Berry be better suited to helping you wake up?" Dust suggested. "We can see if they have any at the Cafeteria. But first, let's get registered for the tournament."

Cliff smiled as she hopped and skipped around Dust as they were heading to Chihiro's office, the Larvitar seemed to be enjoying being able to walk on her own.

"Looks like someone's full of energy today at least," Dust chuckled.

"Don't worry, Berry, we will get you wide awake soon," Shab promised.

The Absol soon came into the guildmaster's room. Chihiro perked up when she saw them walking in. "Good morning, Team Night Tide, or should I say, Team Morning Tide?"

"Hehehe, good one, Grandma!" Spooks chuckled.

"Right," Dust forced a chuckle. "Good morning, Chihiro."

"So am I to assume that you are here to talk about the tournament?" Chihiro inquired.

"That is correct," Dust answered.

"Good, let's review real quick your progress since becoming Team Night Tide," Chihiro replied as she started looking through some papers. "Well you have been very busy lately, taking on many missions. Add that with the special mission from the Strange Mansion, your team has about 245 Rank points."

"So do we qualify to participate in the tournament?" Dust eagerly asked.

"You actually overqualified. That special mission alone already guaranteed you enough points to participate," Chihiro answered. "Sometimes there are those who after getting the necessary amount of Rank Points, they end up doing less missions and focus more on training. So it's good to see that you and your team were still doing as many missions as possible. There's always someone out there who will need your help. And it also makes it easier for you to be able to participate again when you reach a higher rank. Higher ranks will need a lot more points before they can participate again. Which is why you'll mostly be seeing low ranking teams participating in the tournament. But that doesn't mean you should let your guard down, even low ranking teams can be as strong as a Platinum Rank team."

"We'll keep that in mind," Berry stated.

"Good, then I know you are ready~" Chihiro smiled. "Phantom, if you please."

"Yes, Grandma," Phantom took out some papers from the desk, she was carrying the papers with her head before putting it down in front of Dust. "Here are your registration sheets. It's where you put in your team name, the number of teammates you'll be bringing, what rank you currently are, things like that. You must have at least 2 members on your team to qualify. And for Normal to Silver Ranks, you can only bring 3 team members with you in a battle to keep it from getting too cluttered."

Dust looked over the papers before replying. "Hmm, looks like we may have to have Carrie watch over Cliff while we are battling."

"Of course, you can also leave her with me if you want, so she'll get front row seats to your battle~" Chihiro grinned.

"I wanna watch your battle. I wanna see Mommy, Daddy, and Uncle Shab battle!" Cliff hopped around excitedly.

"Do you need any help signing anything, Dust?" Berry asked as the Absol was looking over the papers.

Dust looked over the paper some more before replying. "Just a few things. These are more to your personal information, like moves you know, any possible medical history that might become an issue… Oh, here's a weird one, evolution. It asks if you feel you might be evolving soon or not. Chihiro, why would they want to know something like that?"

"As a precaution. Sometimes, in the heat of battle, someone might undergo an evolution, and the sudden burst of energy could actually be harmful to the participants, since they are going to be much stronger than before. This is to help keep an eye out for which fighters might be evolving, so that we may be ready to provide medical attention, if needed," Chihiro explained.

Berry looked a little pale at this.

"What is evolution?" Cliff asked innocently.

"A wonderful question, Cliff," Dust replied, excited to teach the young Larvitar. "You see, certain Pokemon are able to alter their forms after gaining enough experience. Through evolutions, Pokemon can become stronger, faster, able to do new amazing things. Usually when one is about to evolve, their body will brightly glow as their body changes to their new form."

Cliff then turned to Berry. "Mommy, is that why you were glowing? But you don't look any different."

"Berry was… glowing?" Shab asked, surprised. "I mean you're always glowing to me, but how brightly were you glowing?"

Berry sweatdropped, she hadn't expected to be put on the spot like this.

"Mommy's body was glowing really bright, like so bright I had to close my eyes for a moment, I thought she was using that move Flash that I heard about or something," Cliff explained.

Dust did remember waking up to some kind of bright light before it suddenly faded, and seeing how tired Berry looked after the light faded, it got his gears grinding his head.

"Uh…" Berry hesitated.

"Berry? Is this true? Did you almost evolve last night?" Dust asked.

Berry was starting to sweat more. Chihiro, Phantom, and Spooks all gave curious looks at Berry as well.

"I…" Berry hesitated.

Suddenly the Goomy felt a surge of power go through her body. All the tensing and stimulation at being put on the spot likely triggered it. Berry's body suddenly glowed again, and was bathed in the bright white and blue light, which took everyone by surprise. Cliff was hopping with excitement, while Shab was looking in awe and amazement. Phantom and Spooks had covered their eyes from the bright glow while Chihiro kept on looking, having a proud expression on her face. The moment Berry had started glowing, Dust had grabbed a notepad from his bag, already writing down as much as possible.

Berry stiffened her body before she began to push down the power again. The glowing light began to dim once more, flickering a few times before it faded away, leaving Berry still as a Goomy, though it did exhaust her a little.

When the glowing light faded, but hadn't changed Berry at all, the room was in silence for a moment.

"You sure Mommy is evolving…?" Cliff asked, seeing that Berry hadn't changed at all.

Dust didn't answer at first, as he was too busy observing Berry. He put away the notepad, now a bit more concern. "Berry, are you okay?"

"She's either struggling to make herself evolve when she's not ready, or…" Chihiro frowned a little. "Her body wants to evolve, but she's stopping it. Those are the only explanations I can think of to why she was glowing, but didn't evolve and looks exhausted after it stops."

"I never thought of the possibility of forcing or negating evolution," Dust noted.

"How much have you been training lately?" Chihiro asked.

"Well we've been training at the Dojo when we could. It was only until after the Research Mission that we started training more and more, while also taking on more difficult missions that our Rank allowed us to," Dust explained.

"I see…" Chihiro noted.

"Is something wrong?" Shab asked in concern.

Berry frowned, trying not to look so exhausted.

"Berry is ready to evolve," Chihiro determined. "But she's stopping the evolution."

"She is?" Shab asked.

"Mommy, why don't you evolve?" Cliff asked.

"Because… I don't want to evolve," Berry answered.

"And that's fine," Dust added. "Cliff, something I should've added when talking about evolution is that just because a Pokemon can evolve, doesn't mean they have to. It is completely up to their decision on whether or not they wish to evolve."

"Hmm…" Chihiro noted. "I must warn you, however, that it will be difficult for Berry to keep stopping the evolution. A Pokemon that evolves by getting experience and getting stronger have the hardest time stopping their evolutions. They will always get stronger in a battle, and if something causes them a lot of stress, it could trigger the evolution as well. It wouldn't be very healthy for Berry to keep holding back the power, and there's a high chance it could trigger in the middle of a battle."

"Is there anything we can do to help Berry?" Dust asked. "If it means that she won't be able to participate, then you can count me out too."

"But Dust, this could be your chance of getting that Gold Rank you wanted." Berry frowned.

Dust forced a smile, trying to hide his disappointment. "That may be so, but I rather we do this together, than having to leave you behind."

"That's what I like to hear from you." Chihiro smiled. "Maybe you will be able to get that Gold Rank. So, there are two easy solutions to this. One of them is the most obvious; have Berry evolve before the tournament. The 2nd, if Berry _really_ doesn't want to evolve, then I would suggest you give her this."

Spooks grabbed something from the desk and placed a small, ordinary looking stone on the desk.

"What is it…?" Berry asked. "A pebble…?"

"This is an Everstone," Chihiro answered.

"An Everstone?!" Dust exclaimed. "That is incredible!"

"Dust, what is an Everstone?" Berry asked.

"An Everstone is a unique rock-like item that is able to prevent Pokemon from evolving. Think of it as a type of block or barrier," Dust explained. "When one holds an Everstone, all the excess energy gets nullified by the stone. As long as they are holding the stone, they will never evolve."

Berry's eyes sparkled. "This little Everstone can do that?"

"Yup. I've kept a few with me in case there might be some Pokemon who don't want to evolve for one reason or another," Chihiro chuckled. "Of course, while most guilds would want their members to evolve, we here at Unity Guild don't want to force our members to evolve if they feel they're most comfortable staying the way they are now. Sometimes a Pokemon can bring out their fullest potential by not evolving."

"Thank you very much, Guildmaster, for being so understanding and giving me this item to keep me from evolving," Berry said gratefully.

"Here, we can do this~" Phantom smiled before she and Spooks took out a string before they began doing something with the Everstone.

"Ta-da!" Phantom and Spooks smiled, showing the Everstone now had a loop string on it. "It's a necklace!"

Berry smiled as Phantom put the necklace around Berry's neck, which overlapped her Defense Scarf. "Thanks, Phantom, Spooks, I appreciate it."

"Evolve or not, you're still the perfect Berry~" Shab complimented.

"Just make sure to write down about the Everstone in your registration papers, all items that are being used must be listed," Chihiro explained.

"Will do, thank you Chihiro," Dust said. "Okay, let's get our stuff ready and head to the tournament!"

"Wait a minute, Dust, aren't you forgetting something?" Berry asked the eager Absol.

"Hmm?" Dust stopped in his tracks. "I don't think so. Am I forgetting something?"

"Yes…" Shab spoke up before chuckling. "Like… do you know where the tournament even is?"

Dust was about to answer until he paused, realizing that he didn't know where the tournament would be held. At seeing his reaction, Chihiro gave a slight chuckle.

"Always eager to rush into things," Chihiro remarked. "The tournament will be held in a location not too far from White Leaf Town. It goes by the name White Peak."

"Really? That's one of my favorite locations, the tournament is being held there this month?" Berry asked, surprised.

"Yup. White Peak is a good spot to set up the stadium. It's large enough for it, and it has a great view~" Chihiro smiled. "And it won't get in any of White Leaf Town's residents' way while the tournament is being held."

"Sounds like the perfect place then," Shab noted.

"Cliff, are you going to stay with Chihiro while we get ready for the tournament?" Berry asked the Larvitar.

Cliff nodded as she went to hug Dust and Berry. "Uh huh! Good luck Mommy, good luck Daddy! Good luck, Uncle Shab!"

"Hehe, we'll do our best!" Shab blushed a little.

Spooks and Phantom flew around Cliff, always eager to have their friend over with them.

Dust, with Berry and Shab on his back, eagerly began running through the guild. Excited to join in this tournament, and hopefully, with Berry and Shab by his side, they will be able to get that Gold Rank.

* * *

**Greatest Guy:** **Dust: **Please don't remind me.

**Traveling Master: **Don't mind him, they all had an...interesting time meeting with wild Pokemon.

**DarkFoxKit:** Yes, Shab is adorable~ Berry will know what type she is soon enough, she technically already knows, even though she's denying it. Heh, we thought it would be interesting to have the wild Absol and the wild Goomy deciding to copy the two they fell in love with.

Hmm… Squish and Soot… not bad. In an alternate universe, maybe they would've been the main characters instead of Berry and Dust.

**Traveling Master: **SHHHHH! Don't mention anything about alternate universes and such! Dust is crazy about those things and if he hears you talking about it he won't shut up about it for a week, at best!

**Chihiro: **Oh, I wouldn't worry about that. What's more important was that pun, I'm gonna have to borrow that for later~

**FoxyKhai0209:** **DarkFoxKit:** Hopefully we didn't keep you waiting too long this time.

Yup, Shab finally joined Team Night Tide, I know people have been asking about him. Well, here he is. XP As for Shab having a crush on Berry, well that was to be expected since he was already attached to her when they first met. XD Brody pretty much likes every female he sees, so he's a bit of an exception. As for Shab evolving… I wouldn't say soon, but we do plan on him evolving, because like I said before, Milotic is perhaps my favorite Water type.

Yeah, I raised up a Feebas into a Milotic in Alpha Sapphire, but it was easy compared to how you had to do it in the original versions. I hated trying to evolve a Feebas in Emerald, especially since you were limited to how many Pokeblocks you could feed a Pokemon. If you fill up the meter before getting to the beauty requirement on the Feebas, you're out of luck, it will never evolve. You'll have to hatch or catch a new Feebas and try again.

**Cherry Smooch:** **Traveling Master: **Yeah, the idea about mating season was too tempting to resist, and when we thought about it, we had to do a scene with Dust and Berry meeting a wild Absol and Goomy. I'm sure it's one mission those two won't be forgetting anytime soon.

As for Brody, well he considers himself a ladies mon, but that doesn't mean he won't hesitate to help a fellow male who is in love with someone else. To quote a character from a movie, "Guiding others to a treasure I cannot possess."

**DarkFoxKit:** Yup, I thought Shab's desire to evolve to steal Berry's heart was cute too~

**Rose Snowflake:** **Traveling Master: **Thanks, and glad you liked the chapter. As for the fruit, never heard of anything like it, but it does bring up interesting ideas. So who knows, maybe the Yanaoni Berries will be used in a future chapter.

**Lillypad Glow:** **DarkFoxKit:** Thanks. It was a pretty funny chapter. X3

**Sapphire Flower:** **DarkFoxKit:** We don't really do holiday specials, we just focus on the plot of the story. Sometimes we may throw in a holiday or two if we want to write it out with our characters, like with the Princess Day, but otherwise, it would be rather difficult to have to follow real world holidays, especially with the schedule we've been trying to work with.

**Lonelyboi69:** **Dust: **I...I don't even know what that is...and I'm afraid to ask. I'm still a bit traumatized from almost mating with a wild Absol.

**Guest:** **DarkFoxKit: ** No, Dust doesn't know that Feebas evolves into Milotic, neither does Berry. Because Feebas are so rare and not many Pokemon were willing to give them a lot of attention, not many know what they evolve into. I also think that would make it all the more surprising later. Of course, higher rank Pokemon would know since they likely have Milotic of their own, but the lower ranks are usually more ignorant about a lot of Pokemon they're not familiar with. So Chihiro knows, but Dust doesn't. Yes, they will eventually learn it, and as for how Feebas evolves… it depends on the game. ^^' In Mystery Dungeon, it requires a Beauty Scarf I believe, though I think we changed it to it being a Prism Scarf. Shab won't tell Berry what he evolves into because he wants to surprise her.

Mega Evolution will be something that will come in later on in the story. For now, it's something that only exists in legends and lore. You will see if Berry will acknowledge what she is, I'm not saying how, when, or where.

**Lunar Candy:** **Traveling Master: **No! Please, I mentioned before, we can only handle Chihiro and her puns so much! The more puns you guys give, it just motivates her even more!

**Chihiro: **Too late~ And as for your quality pun, here's a piece of candy, something sweet, just like you. Keep bringing in those puns!

**Traveling Master: **Oh boy, there's no stopping her now...

**Velvet Love:** **DarkFoxKit:** Heh, we thought it would be funny for Dust and Berry to deal with wild Pokemon of their own species during mating season. Dust running away, and Shab battling out of jealousy seemed to be the highlight of the last chapter. XD


	26. Chapter 26: Arriving At The Tournament

**DarkFoxKit:** How long are you going to be playing on your Switch?

**Traveling Master: **Until this one stupid monster finally shows up! I've been trying to hunt for this one specific monster for a while now, but the darn thing only shows up on a hot day!

**DarkFoxKit:** Oh yeah, the weather in this game is completely RNG. It's usually not so bad until you need it to be a specific weather for a side quest. It can get pretty annoying and tedious. Took me a while to get the shooting star night for a specific monster as well. The gang must've been bored silly having to wait on that island for several days and nights until I figured out how the weather thing worked. ^^'

**Traveling Master: *I blink a couple times looking at my switch, to you then back at my switch* **Heh, well what do you know. The moment we start talking about the weather, it's now very hot! And the monster is in sight! ***Puts on safari hat and other equipment*** Time to hunt!

***TM's Switch battery died***

**DarkFoxKit:** Uh-oh… looks like you hadn't charged it in a while.

**Traveling Master: **… ***I say nothing, as I am frozen in shock, anger, and any other mixed emotions at the time* **...

**DarkFoxKit:** Um… are you… uh… okay, TM?

**Dust: *Walks in and noticed how I was frozen* **Oh, haven't seen him like that for a while now. Yeah, he's gonna be stuck like that for a bit. Last time he was playing some sort of adventure game that requires you to save a lot, and turns out after several hours of trying to complete this one mission, the power went out, and the last time he saved was towards the beginning of the mission.

**DarkFoxKit:** … Oh dear… uh… why don't we go relax for a bit? I think TM might… explode if we don't do something fast.

**Dust: **While as fun as that sounds, last time was not as...pleasant, so yes let's go relax while everyone else enjoys the chapter.

* * *

**Chapter 26: Arriving At The Tournament**

Dust, Berry, and Shab spent most of the morning at Carrie's warehouse, organizing and looking through their items that would help them get through the tournament. They were limited to the items they could carry into the tournament after all, and they couldn't afford to waste their slots. Carrie also suggested bringing some Poke since the tournament will also have stands that sell items they could use, which they could buy in-between matches. Food will be served to the participants for free though.

Once they had their items and Poke ready, Dust made his way to White Peak. There were a lot of Pokemon gathering there. Many of White Leaf Town's residents were excited to watch teams battle it out. There were already concussion stands for the audience to buy snacks to munch on while they watched the participants duke it out in the arena.

The arena itself was impressive, large enough to accomodate the crowd as they watched the tournament. Dust saw a sign showing directions for those who will be participating in the tournament. Following the directions, Dust saw an entrance to the arena, with a stand set up next to it. Dust was surprised to see a familiar Meowstic, checking all papers as Pokemon entered through the entrance. Dust got in line, noticing all the different kinds of Pokemon who were also waiting.

"Is that you, Dust?" An excited voice asked. "It is! Ohmigosh! Your team is here too!?"

"Roxy, please calm down before you headbutt someone again," Another familiar voice sighed.

Dust turned to see a familiar Serviper trying to calm down Roxy. "Cobra, it's been a while."

"Likewise, last I heard was that you and Berry had accidentally become parents," Cobra noted.

"Temporary parents," Berry corrected. "Cliff is maturing quickly though. She's the Larvitar we accidentally hatched."

"My, my, what is that tasty thing you have on your head, Berry?" Caper the Purrloin asked, eyeing the Feebas on Berry's head.

Shab stiffened and sweated a little at seeing Caper eyeing him.

"This is Shab, he's our newest team member," Berry quickly answered. "Meaning he's off the menu."

"I only jest," Caper laughed. "So if you guys are here, I'm guessing you guys are also trying to rank up too?"

"That is correct, this is our first time participating. Is this your first time too?" Dust asked.

"Actually this would be our third time," Roxy answered. "We've always had a bit of trouble with teamwork in the past, but I feel like we're gonna rank up this time! I just know it!"

"Third time's a charm as the saying goes," The Seviper agreed.

"Any tips?" Berry asked.

"It's important to remember that even in the heat of battle, the audience still expects a good show. Don't be afraid to show off your more flashy techniques if you can," Caper advised. "If you can get the audience on your side, you're more likely to get a higher rank, or so I've heard~"

"So I'm guessing the further you make it in the tournament, the more likely you'll get a higher rank?" Dust asked.

"That's how it normally goes. It shows both the audience and the other Guild Masters your strength, skills, and teamwork," Cobra explained.

Berry felt nervous at the fact she would be fighting in front of a live audience, and it looked like there was going to be a lot, judging by how many Pokemon were going into the stadium. Dust felt both nervous and excited, he could already feel his heart pounding in his chest. He just realized he never had to battle in front of a live audience before, nor did he have to keep what moves he had to use and how to use it to be extra flashy in mind. But if it would help him get Gold Rank, he would need to. Shab looked nervous too, though to a lesser extent, he had his share of performing in front of others while as a wild Feebas, it was something many Feebas did in their lives when they wanted to show they were worthy of becoming a Milotic one day.

Roxy, noticing all their nervous expressions, decided to lighten up the mood. "Hey! Remember, you all had faced worse. I mean, if you guys can survive a game of tag from our guild, then you should be able to handle battling in front of the crowd."

"Game of tag?" Shab asked.

"Oh, it happened before we met you," Dust pointed out. "What turned out to be a simple game of tag turned into a chaotic game of survival, with the guild itself needing to be repaired."

Shab looked at Berry for confirmation, which she nodded.

"Exactly, and I remember seeing you two survive all that, so this should be a sitch for you," Roxy remarked.

"Though admittedly, it can be intimidating to battle in front of a large audience for first timers," Caper noted. "Just try not to let it get to you."

"Hey!" Another familiar voice spoke up, catching their attention.

A familiar Starly landed beside the two teams and had a big smile on his face. "Looks like you're able to participate in the tournament this month!"

"Hey, Talon, are you participating as well?" Berry asked.

"Yup!" Talon confirmed. "And guess what?~"

"What?" Dust asked, until he suddenly felt something land on top of his head.

Berry and Shab were staring at big butterfly wings. A Snivy hopped down from the butterfly wings.

"I'm kind of jealous that I'm the only one in this group that can't fly," Ivy huffed. "But it's nice to be able to ride."

"Hiya Dust, Berry, how are you two?~" The Butterfree on Dust's head asked in a happy tone.

"Tippi?!" Both Dust and Berry shouted in surprised.

Tippi blushed at the attention. "Is it that surprising?"

"Tippi evolved into a Butterfree about a week ago while we were training. Ever since then, we've been working hard to perfect our combination moves together," Talon said proudly. "I'd say we're a pretty good team!"

"Oooh, I can't wait to see what you're capable of, especially you, Tippi!" Roxy smiled, wagging her tail.

"Oh! I can't believe I missed seeing you evolve!" Dust pouted before sighing. "Still, congratulations on evolving, I'm guessing it's much better now since you can move freely and such."

"Oh it definitely is! I can fly on my own now, and I can carry Ivy easily!" Tippi answered proudly. "I can do all kinds of moves with my wings, moves I could only dream of when I was a Caterpie and a Metapod!"

"Though I do admit, I do miss carrying her when she was just a Caterpie, but this is great too. Now I have a partner who can fly with me in the sky!" Talon smiled.

Something about what Talon said about missing carrying the Caterpie around struck with Dust. If Berry ever did decide to evolve, she may become too big for him to carry anymore. If their future selves were any indication, Berry could potentially tower over him one day. But at the current moment, Berry had shown no indication of wanting to evolve, and Dust had already told her that he'd support her in whatever decision she made. Maybe in the future things would change, but for now, he was still glad to be able to carry Berry around.

"Yeah, congratulations on evolving, Tippi, you looks really good," Berry complimented, making the Butterfree blush more.

"Yes, you look very pretty," Shab agreed before he quickly whispered to Berry. "But nowhere near as pretty as you, Berry."

Berry rolled her eyes, but she did appreciate the compliment.

"I must say, it is nice to see your partner finally evolving," Caper said to Talon. "Maybe you'll be evolving soon too."

"You think so?" Talon asked. "I have been feeling stronger than usual lately, so I wrote down on my registration sheet that I feel close to evolving, though I'm not sure."

"I can't wait to evolve, though I'm still debating which form I want to evolve into," Roxy spoke up. "Midnight form is awesome and scary looking, being able to be bipedal has its advantage as well. I'd be able to pick up things with my hands! The midday form is also really cool, I'd be much faster, and look cool while running~ Then there's that weird mix between the two forms, the dusk form. That would be cool, but it's so hard to get."

"Too bad I can't evolve, I'd like to know what it's like," Cobra sighed.

Dust was about to ask more questions, but then he noticed how uncomfortable Berry was, mostly likely due to all the talking about evolution. So he decided to try and change the subject. "So both Team Silkwing and Team Toxic Stars are here, does that mean Team Destruct is nearby?"

"Didn't you hear? Team Destruct was the first team to sign up, they're probably somewhere in the stadium now, getting ready for when the tournament begins," Ivy answered.

"I'm honestly surprised that they are participating this time," Talon added. "Looks like they were able to finally go through a whole month without causing any trouble."

"Well, there's a first time for everything," Tippi chuckled. "Oh, I've been meaning to ask, that Feebas… is that a new team member?"

"Oh yes, he is, this is Shab," Berry replied.

"It's nice to meet you," Shab stated.

"Oh, it's nice to meet you too. It's good to see Team Night Tide finally has a third member," Tippi chuckled.

"By the way, looks like you and your team are next," Cobra said as he pointed with his tail.

Dust turned and saw that Miyagi was staring at them, waiting for them to come forward. His stare sent a shiver down everyone's spine. Tippi flew off of Dust's head.

"Well it was great seeing you all again," Dust waved to both Team Toxic Stars and Silkwing.

"Good luck, and who knows, maybe we'll be fighting against each other too!" Roxy shouted.

It just occurred to Dust that in this tournament, they will be fighting all sorts of Pokemon. He knew that there was a chance he would fight against Crimson and his team, but the thought of fighting against his friends made him hope that they would be lucky and wouldn't have to fight them. Only time would tell.

Walking up to the stand, Dust tried not to make direct eye contact with Miyagi as he handed the Meowstic their registration papers. "Miyagi, always great to see you. Here's our papers, I think you'll find everything in order."

Miyagi gave a quiet stare at Dust for a moment before looking at the registration papers. After the Meowstic took a second or two to look through the papers, he put a stamp of approval on it. Then, he used telekinesis to lift three pink bands before he had them tie themselves around Dust's right wrist, Berry's right antenna, and Shab's right fin.

"The bands represent your current team rank. Pink being the Normal Rank color. It also shows you are a participant in the tournament," Miyagi explained. "Your bands cannot be removed without certain permission. Now go."

Dust quickly nodded before walking past Miyagi and into the stadium. After making some distance, Dust let out a breath of relief, glad to finally be away from the Meowstic.

"Who was that guy?" Shab asked, still shivering from their brief encounter.

"Miyagi, you may have seen a few times when we picked up a new mission," Berry answered with a shiver of her own. "His stares are always pretty intense, and nobody can ever tell what he's really thinking."

"I'm surprised his ability isn't Intimidate with that kind of stare…" Shab muttered.

"I wouldn't be surprised if it secretly was," Dust admitted.

Now that they were inside, Dust had a better chance to look at their surroundings. He saw many other Pokemon, most likely other fighters, in the room. While shocked by the numbers, it did make sense that there would be many Normal Rank Crusaders who wished to increase their rank as well. He saw teams that were mostly made up of Fire type Pokemon, while he spotted a Gastly, Haunter, and Gengar in the distance. Dust could only imagine how many Pokemon were outside, waiting to watch them all fight. There were also teams he had seen in Unity Guild, like the Cubone, the Meowth and the Pikachu, and a few others. But the teams of Pokemon Dust, Berry, and Shab weren't familiar with are what caught their attention the most. There were many strong looking ones.

Dust was so distracted that he failed to notice a Persian that he was about to walk into.

"Dust! Look out!" Berry yelped.

"Huh?" Dust asked, but it was too late.

Dust ended up bumping into the Persian, accidently knocking the feline Pokemon on the ground. Dust quickly went over to the Persian to help them up.

"My deepest apologize, I didn't mean to knock you over,"Dust apologized.

"Oh, no worries, no worries, the fact you were able to knock me over shows how strong you are, and that's a goldmine in this place!" The Persian enthusiastically stated as he got up on his paws quickly.

The Persian appeared to be wearing some sort of orange suit with a pair of glasses over his eyes, though Dust couldn't see any glass on the glasses.

"My name is Dio, I'm a reporter for this month's tournament!" The Persian introduced. "You can say I'm quite the fight fan, and I'm looking for the biggest scoop around here."

Dio looked around for a moment before he put a paw over his mouth to whisper. "Don't tell anyone about this, but rumor has it that there's a sinister mystery surrounding the stadium and the tournament itself."

Berry gulped at that. "A… _sinister_ mystery?"

"Oh yes, so I suggest keeping your eyes peeled for any strange activities," Dio warned.

"Uh...Thanks for the advice, but if you think that something sinister might be going on, why tell us? Why not tell the Guild Masters?" Dust asked.

Dio shook his head. "Like I said, it's only a rumor, and the tournament is a huge event. They would hardly take a reporter's warning seriously. Also, if I'm not mistaken, but you three are Team Night Tide, correct?"

"Yes, we are. What does that have to do with anything?" Dust asked once more.

"You have quite the reputation, it's also another reason why I'm here, I was hoping for the chance to meet with you and wouldn't you know it, Victini has blessed me with this fortunate meeting," Dio exclaimed. "For a team that's only Normal Rank, you've already have done some impressive feats! It's as if you're part of a big story, and you are the main protagonist!"

"I… wouldn't go as far to say that," Berry sheepishly remarked.

"He does make a fair point, we have been through a lot in only two months," Dust pointed out.

"Exactly, which is why I trust you with this sensitive information. If anyone could possibly solve this mystery, it would be Team Night Tide," Dio praised.

"Um, so, what is this sinister mystery you were talking about?" Shab asked.

"They say that sometimes, fighters would mysteriously go missing," Dio whispered. "Then when they come back, they look so drained that one would think a Ghost type had sucked all the life out of them. They don't seem to be able to recover whatever is ailing them either. So if I were you two, it's best to keep your eyes peeled for anything dangerous. This reporter is going to do his best to try to find out if this mystery is true or not, and then prove it if it is indeed real!"

"Again, thanks for the advice. Well definitely keep our eyes open for anything," Dust replied.

"Great, now I best be off, good luck in the tournament, I'll be rooting for your team!" Dio waved goodbye before heading off.

"I'm… starting to wonder if coming to this tournament was a good idea…" Berry frowned.

"You don't think he was actually serious about that whole _sinister _thing, do you?" Shab asked.

"Maybe, then again, a reporter's first job is to find as much drama as possible. Perhaps he is telling the truth and there is sinister work happening beneath the shadows. Or maybe he hopes to rile up the other contenders for his report," Dust suggested. "You'd be surprised how often the Olympus Guild had to kick out reporters trying to sneak in and find some sort of scoop."

"Yeah, maybe you're right," Berry sighed. "We probably shouldn't take what Dio said too seriously, or my nerves are going to be completely shot."

"Still, it wouldn't hurt to keep our eyes open for any suspicious Pokemon," Shab suggested. "But not to worry, Berry, I'll be sure to keep you safe!"

"Heh, glad to see you're so enthusiastic about it," Berry chuckled sheepishly.

Dust started to walk around, trying to figure out where to go. There were these huge double doors that easily grabbed his attention, but when he went to go check it out, he could see the doors lead to the seats where the audience would go to watch the arena. Dust tried looking around again, before Berry's antennae caught something.

"Hey, I see Team Silkwing going over there. Maybe we should follow them," Berry suggested. "They might know where they're going."

Dust nodded before heading over to where Team Silkwing was. There was a crowd of Pokemon between them, so Dust had to do some navigating to get through them, but luckily he was still able to keep his eyes on their friends.

Dust caught up to Silkwing. Talon and Tippi were flying with Ivy walking under them. They were going into a door that led into a corridor. However, standing in front of a door was a Bewear wearing sunglasses. Bewear looked at Talon, Tippi, and Ivy for a moment, before it used its arm to break down the door, allowing the three to go in. Then the Bewear picked the door back up, somehow fixing it instantly.

"Uh… is that the… bodyguard…?" Berry asked, sweatdropping.

"Seems so," Dust gulped as he walked up to the Bewear. "Hi, I'm assuming this is the entrance for those participating in the tournament?"

The Bewear stared at Dust without saying a word.

"Hello there!" A Stufful that was standing under the Bewear greeted them. "You're participants to the tournament, correct? Is this your first time participating?"

"Uh...yes," Dust was not expecting to suddenly see a Stufful.

"Then I bid you welcome! This will lead to the waiting room for the participants! You are…" Stufful looked at their bands for a moment. "Normal Rank, so you will want to look for the Normal Rank door. Not only that, but you must look for a Normal Rank door for the guild you belong in. There's only so many rooms we can build for Normal Ranks, so they're split up into which guild you're in as well."

"Oh, I was actually kinda hoping to see some of the other participants," Dust replied.

The Stufful chuckled for a bit before replying back. "Well you'll get to see them in due time. For now this is just to make sure there was enough space for everyone. But as the tournament progresses, you'll be seeing more and more of these participants."

The Stufful then gestured to the door just as Bewear punched the door, breaking it down once again. "Please, come on in and find your locker room~ Be sure to follow all the rules."

The Bewear was staring at them. It was hard to tell what it was thinking, but Dust had a feeling if they broke any rules, then the Bewear would break them. Berry and Shab looked nervous as well. Dust quickly went on through, looking back in time to see the Bewear put the door back in its place.

"Okay, reminder not to anger that Bewear," Dust commented.

"Bewear is… quite the unique Pokemon, huh?" Berry chuckled sheepishly.

"That's one bear I don't want catching me," Shab muttered.

Dust looked around, seeing that they were in a hallway with lots of doors. Pokemon of different ranks, which Dust, Berry, and Shab could tell by the color of their bands, were going into different doors. Some teams had bronze bands, some had silver bands, and a few had gold bands.

"I hope we're not expected to fight those higher ranks, we'd be wiped out quickly if we were to face a Gold Rank team." Berry frowned nervously.

"Well according to the rules, they are first gonna have matches with the same ranking members," Dust explained. "As the tournament progresses, they will see how strong the remaining participants are and adjust the match ups more accordingly."

"So we'll only be fighting with others of our own rank, unless we show enough strength to match with a higher rank, then they would put us against those higher ranks?" Shab asked to get it straight.

"Precisely, take Team Destruct, for example. Even though they are only Bronze Rank, their skills and strengths are greater than a regular Bronze Rank. So they will most likely be fighting against other Silver Rank, or maybe even a Gold Rank team, depending on how far they get in the tournament," Dust answered.

"That would be… quite a match to see," Berry remarked. "But for now, we should focus on finding our locker room."

Dust nodded before he began to look at the doors. Each door had a mark on it. The marks would be in different colors depending on the rank, so that meant Dust was looking for a pink marking. The pink mark doors also had a symbol picture, which Dust guessed was supposed to be the symbol of a guild's badge, so he had to look for the one that resembled the Unity Guild's badge. Dust walked on for a little while, moving past the other teams. Some of the teams radiated such power and intensity that it made Dust, Berry, and Shab shiver just going past them.

Near the end of the corridors, however, Dust finally found a door with the pink marking and the Unity Guild's symbol. After opening the door, Dust was surprised by how large the room was. It wasn't too big, but if Dust had to guess, it was big enough to hold about 20 to 30 Pokemon inside. Luckily Dust only counted 12 other Pokemon inside, not including themselves. Spotting Team Silkwing, Dust started heading over to them.

Upon seeing Dust, Berry, and Shab, Talon greeted Team Night Tide. "I was wondering when you guys would show up."

"Yeah, some of us were starting thinking you got lost or something," Ivy added.

Roxy suddenly over and wagged her tail. "Hey! Did you get lost?"

"Don't be rude," Tippi spoke up. "This is their first time participating in the tournament. I don't blame them for not knowing where to go on their own."

"Hey, hey, hey!" Someone barked excitedly, and it wasn't Roxy.

Dust, Berry, and Shab were surprised to see a Yamper making its way over to them, panting happily while wagging its lightning shaped tail.

"So this is Team Night Tide, it's so nice to finally meet you in Pokemon!" The Yamper smiled.

"Aww, what a cute Yamper," Berry cooed.

"Hey, back off, I greeted them first, and I knew them way before you did!" Roxy snapped at the Yamper.

"Well I didn't see you mark your territory on them, so you back off!" The Yamper barked back.

Both canine Pokemon were growling at each other challengingly.

"Uh… is this a bad time?" Shab asked.

"Roxy, did you already forget your promise?" Cobra spoke up as he slithered to the group.

Roxy grumbled as she looked at Cobra. "That I wouldn't fight with Sparky unless it was in the arena."

"Ha! Serves you right!" Sparky the Yamper called out, failing to noticed a figure behind him.

A Zangoose slapped Sparky upside the head, making him whine. "Sparky, we do not condone such attitude here. Although…"

The Zangoose, who had a feminine voice, looked up at Cobra. "I don't blame you for wanting to challenge one of Cobra's teammates."

Cobra returned the stare. "Slash… It's been a while."

"Too long if you asked me," Slash the Zangoose answered back, sharpening her claws. "Think your tail blade got any sharper than my claws?"

Cobra lifted his tail blade to match against Slash's claws. "Just wait a bit longer, I'm sure we'll be showing which of us is sharper soon."

Dust had never seen Cobra like this before. Normally he keeps a cool level head, so to see him this riled up was a bit of a surprise. But Dust figured it only made sense, having read about the deep heated rivalry between the Serviper and the Zangoose.

"This… is getting a little intense…" Berry whispered.

"Team Toxic Stars have always had this rivalry with Team Wild Thunder. Slash the Zangoose is their leader. Sparky is the Yamper who's friendly with others, except to Roxy," Talon explained. "They also have one more member."

Leaning against the wall, Dust noticed Caper was leaning with a Nickit.

"Such heated emotions, it's rather silly how barbaric they can be," Caper remarked.

"You'd think they would get past all that primal instinct of thiers," Nickit remarked with a feminine voice.

Caper looked into the bag he had with him before sighing. "Swiper, give them back. I know you took the berries I brought."

"Only if you give back the seeds I brought," Swiper the Nickit answered back.

"Well played," The Purrloin remarked.

Dust blinked a few times, seeing Caper and Swiper exchange the previously stolen items. He then turned his attention back to Talon. "Well they seem like the… interesting sort."

"They certainly are," Talon chuckled sheepishly.

"There's one more team here I believe you hadn't been officially introduced to yet," Tippi spoke up, flapping her wings. "The only other Normal Rank team from the Unity Guild here that was able to get enough points to participate in the tournament this month."

"Just a fair warning, they are an odd group," Ivy added. "And trust me, I've seen a lot of interesting Pokemon in the Unity Guild, but they are definitely up there when it comes to...um...sticking out. Kind of like your team."

Dust wasn't sure if that was a compliment or not, but thanked the Snivy regardless. "Uh, thank you for the advice."

"Wait, what's that supposed to mean about us sticking out?" Berry asked.

Ivy snickered a little. "You two, or I guess three now, do have a bit of a reputation around here. Take that as a compliment, at least your reputation isn't like Team Destruct's reputation, where you're well known for destroying everything you touch."

As to prove Ivy's point, there was a sudden commotion outside, the sound of things crashing could be heard. At first everyone was alarmed by the sudden noise, except for Caper and Swiper.

"How much you wanna bet it's Brody this time? You know how often he gets into an accident." Caper asked.

Swiper shook her head. "Nah, I say it's Al, out of the three he's the real troublemaker."

Ivy went over to the two Dark types and smiled. "You know what I think? It's gotta be Grant. He often makes messes by hitting Brody or Al into something. I'll bet you two 5,000 Poke that it's Grant this time. And no stealing the Poke back by the way."

The two dark types looked at each other before looking at Ivy, both smirking as they replied at the same time. "You're on!"

"I have to wonder how often this happens if Pokemon are just making casual bets on which member of Team Destruct made an explosion…" Berry sweatdropped.

"Quite often enough," A voice spoke up.

Dust turned, seeing a familiar looking Meowth and Pikachu, he was sure he had seen them before, but he couldn't quite put his claw on it. Behind the Meowth and Pikachu was a Wobbuffet.

"Well, didn't think we'd see you two here," Meowth remarked.

"Or I guess three now if we include the fish on Berry's head," Pikachu pointed out.

Dust tried racking his memory, trying to recall who these Pokemon were. He normally is able to recall those he met, having pretty good memories, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't remember who they were.

"I'm sorry, but I'm sure we have met before, but I'm having trouble recalling who you are," Dust apologized.

"We've seen each other when you two were new to the guild, you may remember us from the time I wanted to pick out a higher rank mission," The Meowth explained.

"Oh…" Dust remembered a Pikachu and Meowth back then, it felt like a lifetime ago now. "Right, I remember you two now."

"Good, I also hope you know I'm a girl, most don't seem to realize I'm female right off the bat, and it's pretty insulting," The Meowth stated. "I'm a beautiful girl, and my name is Jessie."

"And I'm James," The Pikachu added.

"Wobbuffet!" The Wobbuffet replied.

"And we are Team Rocket!" Jessie finished.

"Woooobbuffet!" The Wobbuffet stated proudly.

"Uh… okay… is there something wrong with your… Wobbuffet teammate?" Berry asked.

"I think the Wobbuffet is wild…" Shab muttered.

"Not exactly," James answered. "He was wild at first, but now he's civilized."

"Okay, so why does he keep saying his name then?" Dust asked.

Both James and Jessie look at each other before looking at Dust and just shrug while replying at the same time. "He just prefers it that way."

"Wooooobbuffet!" The Wobbuffet agreed, or at least that was what Dust thought was what the Wobbuffet was doing.

"So it looks like this might be all the Normal Rank teams from the Unity Guild for this month's tournament," Slash noted. "You'd think there would've been more this month."

"That's good, more chances for us to actually battle it out in the arena and prove we are the better team," Cobra stated, looking at Slash.

"I'm the better, friendlier greeter," Roxy barked at Sparky.

"I'm the better, cuter greeter," Sparky barked back.

"So, the usual bet then?" Swiper asked Caper.

"If we fight against each other, loser has to buy the winner lunch?" Caper replied with his own question.

"Yup," Swiper held out a paw.

Caper grasped it and gave a firm shake. "Then it's a bet."

"Swiper, give back the Sleep Seed," Caper suddenly said.

"As long as you give back the Chesto Berry," Swiper answered back.

"This… is certainly going to be an interesting tournament," Berry sweatdropped.

Suddenly the door was knocked down. Stufful and Bewear came into the locker room. Everyone stopped and paid extra attention to the two teddy-bear-like Pokemon.

"Alright, everyone, time to pay attention!" Stufful spoke up. "It's almost time for the tournament to begin. We would like for you all to join the rest of the guild participants to the arena where the opening ceremony will commence."

Stufful looked at the group, seeing that they were indeed paying attention. "Alright, for those who are participating for the first time, to find the entrance to the arena, walk down the hallway, following the signs. They will lead you outside to the arena where you will join the others. After the opening ceremony, you may choose to stay in the waiting room or watch the matches for yourselves. Further instructions will be provided during the ceremony. Understood?"

Everyone in the room nodded at the Stuffel. "Great, see you all soon. Remember, don't be late for the ceremony!"

With that Stufful signaled to Bewear, who grabbed the door and put it back in its place, as though it was never knocked down to begin with, making everyone sweatdrop at how illogical that was.

"Are they always like that?" Dust asked Talon.

"Yup, and before you ask. I don't know how the doors stay intact," Talon replied before Dust could ask the very question.

"We should probably get going to the arena, we won't want to be late to the opening ceremony," Tippi stated.

"I can't wait to see it! It's always exciting to see what guild is joining us this month, and what Guildmaster is here to watch!" Roxy smiled excitedly.

"It'll be good to see some of the more exclusive and well known Guildmasters to watch us fight!" Sparky wagged his tail excitedly.

Berry was starting to get more and more nervous at the idea of important Guildmasters watching, and judging how she would battle. Dust on the other hand was wondering if his old Guildmaster would be there. And if Grace was there, would that mean his mother would be too. Dust grew nervous at the thought, wondering what they would think if they were here. Shab had only met Chihiro, so the thought of seeing other Guildmasters didn't bother him too much, mostly because he figured that most were like Chihiro.

"You can follow us if you're not sure where to go," Tippi suggested to Dust. "The signs do make it easy to find the doors to the arena, but if it'll make you feel better to stick with us, that's fine too."

"That's probably a good idea," Berry concurred, she would rather blend in with the other teams if they were going to see the other Guildmasters now.

"Bet you I can get there before you can!" Sparky challenged Roxy.

"Like you can ever beat me!" Roxy barked back.

The two canine dogs then ran out the door, causing both Cobra and Slash to sigh. They quickly glare at each other before leaving, soon to be followed by Caper and Swiper. Dust then saw Team Rocket follow soon after, they were mumbling to themselves, but Dust couldn't catch what they were exactly saying. With only Team Night Tide and Silkwing left, Talon started taking the lead.

"It's not too far, just stick close and we'll get there soon," Talon said before heading out the door.

Dust nodded as he saw Tippi and Ivy fly and walk out. With Berry and Shab on his back, Dust exited the room, following close behind Team Silkwing. It was a good thing too, already there were other Pokemon in the hallway, all heading in the same direction. As they walked further down the hallway, Dust saw a rather large hole in one of the walls, making him wonder if that was the commotion they had heard earlier.

* * *

The doors leading to the arena were huge double doors, it was easy for even the larger Pokemon to go through, which Dust supposed was the point. Once they were in the arena, Dust could see just how big the place was. There were already hundreds if not thousands of Pokemon watching them from the stands. The arena itself was huge, perfect for battling. All the participating teams gathered onto the arena. Dust, still having both of his teammates on his back, followed Team Silkwing onto the arena, before they stayed in one spot. The other teams were still gathering.

"Wow… look at all the Pokemon…" Berry whispered. "I've never seen so many Pokemon in one spot."

"You can say that again," Dust remarked.

As Dust was surveying the crowd, he noticed that above the crowd, there was a column-like area, each with a unique insignia on the outside. He counted at least others, each with which he assumed were the Guildmasters, and was amazed, never having seeing them before. A Garchomp sitting on top of one of the columns caught his attention, his fierce glare watching the arena. He also noticed a Machamp in the neighboring column that had a fist as the insignia. He then spotted the familiar Unity Guild symbol, and on top of the column he saw Chihiro, with her two Grandchildren, Phantom and Spooks. He smiled when he saw Cliff was also there with them, most likely trying to find where Dust and Berry were.

"Berry look, it's Cliff," Dust pointed out.

Berry looked up, seeing Chihiro and Cliff, she gave a small smile seeing Cliff waving at them excitedly.

"Aww, our little Cliff is waving at us." Shab smiled. "She's happy to see you, I'm sure, Berry. I know I would be~"

Berry gave a small wave back with her antenna, though she wasn't sure if Cliff saw it, she was mostly trying to remain as unimportant and uninteresting as possible.

A Mawile came to the front of all the participants, holding a microphone over her mouth. "Welcome, each and every one of you teams who made it into the tournament this month! For those who are new here, I welcome you to the rank-up tournament! My name is Patricia and I will be the announcer for the tournament. It would appear there are more Pokemon from different guilds this month. Guildmasters came from far and wide to watch their team rank up, I'm sure you wouldn't want to disappoint them."

Berry gulped a little from that.

"I will now introduce the Guildmasters who will be watching you in your battle for a rank up!" Patricia announced.

The crowd cheered, all excited to be here. After a few seconds the crowd quieted down for Patricia to continue.

"Starting this off we have the very ones hosting the tournament, who are known to have all kinds of Pokemon in their guild, I give you the Unity Guild!" Patricia introduced, causing the crowd to cheer once more.

Dust saw Chihiro got up from her seat as she waved to the audience. "It is always a pleasure to see so many faces joining us today. All this excitement is making me feel all _Goomy_ inside. Seeing so many participating fighters makes me as proud as a Piplup! I'm so overjoyed that my happiness is higher than any mountain a Larvitar could ever eat. If I could, I would give each and everyone of you a _Bewear _hug! Oh, wait, I got one more! I hope that they don't make me wait a _Mawile_ to make things interesting!"

Funny enough, half the crowd was laughing, while the other half was groaning.

"Thank you, for your… words of wisdom, Guildmaster Chihiro," Patricia spoke up.

"Of course _our_ Guildmaster has to use her speech to make all sorts of Pokemon puns…" Ivy muttered in embarrassment.

"I thought they were pretty clever," Talon chuckled.

Dust couldn't help but notice Caper and Swiper, who weren't too far away from them, passing items and coins of Poke back and forth. They had likely made bets about Chihiro's puns.

"Same old Chihiro," Berry muttered. "Just wish she didn't use my species name in a pun though…"

"Now for the next Guildmaster…" Patricia spoke up.

Patricia introduced other Guildmasters, like the Garchomp being the leader of the Lucernas Guild, the Machamp being the leader of the Punching Guild, a guild made up of Fighting types. There were several guilds that had mostly strong species of Pokemon. A few others guilds that specialized in one type. It would seem that Chihiro's Unity Guild was the odd one out, a guild that included all Pokemon, not just the strong ones or just one type.

"Next is one of the more famous and powerful guilds, the Volcanic Ash Guild, a guild that specializes in Fire types. The Guildmaster himself couldn't make it due to certain responsibilities, so in his place, he sent a representative. You may know him from being the leader of Team Flames of Wrath. He is Igneel Charizard!" Patricia excitedly announced.

The crowd went wild, it would seem many knew about this Igneel.

"To think _he_ would be here," Dust said. "Igneel, the Hellfire."

Berry was shivering. "I didn't think we'd see him here."

"Who?" Shab asked, being a wild Pokemon for most of his life.

Before Dust could answer, Igneel, who was a rather large Charizard, got up from his seat to address the crowd. "I am greatly humbled to be here in the place of Guildmaster Cronus. He gives his regards and wishes the best of luck to all fighters."

Despite Igneel's short message, the crowd erupted into a cheer once more. Berry was still shivering, but then her body froze. Even though they were surrounded by many Pokemon, and that she was small compared to most of them, it seemed as though Igneel was staring right at her, as though studying her. Berry tried looking away, but his glare prevented her from moving. Suddenly she felt someone shaking her, snapping her out of her temporary paralysis.

"Berry, are you okay?" Shab kept asking Berry.

Thankfully, Berry did manage to snap out of her paralysis. When she blinked again, Igneel had already moved away. "Y-yeah… I… I could've sworn the Hellfire himself was looking right at me."

"He did appear to be looking in your direction," Ivy noted. "Just the thought of Igneel the Hellfire looking at me would send chills down my spine."

"So who is he exactly?" Shab asked once more.

"You really don't know?" Tippi asked, sounding shocked.

"Sorry, I've been a wild Pokemon until recently," Shab apologized.

"Right…" Berry remembered. "Igneel is one of the most revered Crusaders in the land, even in rural places like the Spring Swamp had heard about him. While he may not technically be a Dragon type, he is seen as one of the strongest dragons known to all mons. He comes from the Volcanic Ash Guild, a guild that… I don't know much about actually, other than they only train Fire type Pokemon, but there is a reason why Igneel has the nickname 'the Hellfire'. He is a Master Rank Crusader, which is the highest rank a Crusader could get."

"You can even say that he's on par with my mother, Eclipse," Dust added. "I've only seen him once, when I was a child. He had come to the Olympus Guild, but even though it's been years, I can still remember the pressure he gave off. I never thought I would meet anyone who could exert so much pressure besides my mother."

"Whoa… no wonder he's so revered. Don't worry, Berry, I'm sure he was just taken in by your beauty for a moment," Shab assured.

Berry wasn't so sure that was the reason why Igneel looked at her, but she just hoped maybe he just looked at her because he had never seen a Goomy before or something and just decided she wasn't worth paying much attention to.

"Alright, now time for our final guild. This was a surprise for everyone, but today, I welcome the very first guild that was ever created! The Olympus Guild, with Guildmaster Grace and Guild council member Eclipse joining us!" Patricia shouted into her mike.

The crowd went full on crazy at hearing that. No one had expected the Olympus Guild to show as they never had their teams participate. But out of all the Pokemon in the stadium, the one who was most shocked was Dust as he spotted his mother sitting on top of the column.

"...Mother…" Dust muttered, having mixed feelings of seeing her.

Grace then got up, the Gardevoir smiling as she addressed the audience. "It is truly a pleasure to be here. I can assure you, no one was more surprised than me when we had received a special invitation from Grandmaster Chihiro. We know that this is a special occasion for your guild and we thank you for having us."

Chihiro gave an acknowledging nod to Grace, who then floated aside for Eclipse to get up and speak. For a brief moment, Dust saw her look at him, before she went to address the crowd.

"This tournament holds a special place in my heart. It was here that many of you have seen my accomplishments. It was here that I showed the world the impossible, where I had achieved Gold Rank despite having the odds stacked against me. And I wish to share this with you, despite the challenges that you face, the hardships that you will come across. Remember to never give up, to always get back up and show the world who you are! Show them why you are here, show them why you have dawned on the title of Crusader! Show them that it is possible to do the impossible!" Eclipse shouted as she gave her speech.

At that hyped up speech, the crowd, even the participants were letting out cheers, and shouts of determination.

"So that's your mother?" Berry whispered to Dust. "She sure knows how to hype up the crowd."

"Well she is a Master Rank Crusader, no one else knows more than what it means to be one," Dust muttered, never taking his eyes off his mother.

Dust saw that Eclipse was looking right at him and despite the two being so far apart in a stadium filled with Pokemon, in that moment it felt as though it was only him and his mother. So many things were going through his mind, so many feelings were welling up inside. He felt both nervous but also grateful to see his mother. Part of him wanted to greet her, while another wanted to keep away. Was she proud? Was she disappointed? Dust couldn't tell, and though mother and son continued to stare at one another, as the crowd started to quiet down, Eclipse turned her gaze away from Dust as she returned to her seat.

"Now that the introductions are out of the way, you know who you're battling for, be sure to give them and our lovely audience a good show if you want to rank up!" Patricia spoke up. "And with that, we conclude the opening ceremony. You will now return to your waiting rooms for further instructions. As for you lovely audience, be sure to grab whatever snacks you can get, use the restroom while you can, because the tournament will begin shortly!"

* * *

Everyone was returning to their locker rooms. Many of the teams were discussing among themselves how awesome some of the Guildmasters were as they were leaving the arena.

"This is the first time you have seen your son in 2 months, Eclipse, what is on your mind right now?" Grace asked the older Absol.

Before, Eclipse had a calm, intimidating expression, but now that it was just them two, she let out a rather long sigh, looking a bit exhausted. "So many things right now. Part of me wants to rush over to him right now, but at the same time I can't help but dread to hear what he's done so far. I can only imagine the trouble he may have caused."

Grace laughed a bit as she patted her friend's back. "I can sense that you are stressed, but aren't you also glad to see him? After all, Dust had to have done some good on his missions if he was able to earn enough points to participate in this tournament at all."

Eclipse sighed once more before smiling at Grace. "You're right, if he's here, then that means he's been improving since having been forced to leave the guild."

"We also did come here to see how he would do when Chihiro messaged us that Dust would be participating in the tournament this month," Grace noted before she gave Eclipse a curious look. "How do you think he will do in the tournament?"

Eclipse remained silent for a moment as she thought about her son. "If I know Dust, I can tell that this tournament is very important to him right now. I saw that he was wearing the band that was meant for Normal Rank, most likely he's thinking if it's possible to achieve Gold Rank after this tournament."

"And do you think he will be able to do it?" Grace asked.

Eclipse paused once more, recalling seeing her son, and the Pokemon that were sitting on his back. It was then Eclipse realized Dust managed to keep a partner with him this time as well.

"He is my son, so… it's possible," Eclipse answered. "But… Dust had never shown that much promise when it came to battles, so… it's difficult to say right now."

"Well you and your partner were able to do the impossible, so I'm sure he can too," Grace commented, but then a thought occurred to her. "Speaking of your former partner, what ever became of him?"

"Don't know, don't care," Eclipse quickly answered, a bit of anger coming from her voice.

Grace could sense the anger building up inside of Eclipse, most likely a past she rather not think about. "Understandable, let's just enjoy the tournament then. Best of luck to your son and his team."

"Indeed, he'll likely need it… I hope he doesn't get completely destroyed out there," Eclipse sighed.

* * *

"So you were the son of a Master Rank this whole time?" Roxy asked Dust, who was surprised by the sudden question.

"Uh, yes. You see my mother-" Dust started before Caper had cut him off.

"Hold on, does this mean you are loaded? I mean, I can only imagine how much a Master Rank would make," Caper brought up.

"Well last I check my mother made about-" Dust tried to answer, only to be cut off once again.

"If your mom is a member of the Guild Council, why are you here?" Ivy asked this time.

"That is an excellent question. You see, I was-" Dust got cut off once again, causing him to give an annoyed sigh.

"Does this make you a Master Rank too?" Sparky asked excitedly.

"If he's the son of Eclipse, that must make him really strong then," Slash added.

"Oh really? Then he might follow in his mother's footsteps and get Gold Rank on his first try here!" Jessie remarked.

"I don't know, Dust didn't seem all that strong when he fought with Team Crimson Raiders the first time, maybe you're all getting a little over excited with who he's related with," Talon spoke up.

"Woobbufett!" Wobbuffett shouted.

"He does have a point, maybe he faked it," James nodded with Wobbuffett.

"Alright, that's enough!" Berry spoke up. "You're all asking too many questions that Dust can't answer them all. He may not even want to answer some of them, what he's doing here is his business."

The group all went silent, none of them expecting the loud outburst from Berry.

After a few seconds of silence, Dust coughed, getting everyones' attention. "Thank you Berry, really needed that." Dust then took a deep breath, preparing for what was coming next. "Okay, so to answer all your questions, yes my mother is a Master Rank, her income salary is rather large, though she had made sure that I was kept very far away from it. Reason I am here is… well due to personal reasons. No, I'm not a Master Rank, if I was, I don't think I would be here as a Normal Rank. My mother is indeed very strong, but I am nowhere as close to as she was when she first participated in the tournament. But I do hope to gain the Gold Rank on my first try here. And I wasn't faking it during my match against Crimson, I was really that weak back then. Now are there any other questions?!"

Dust took in a deep breath, having answered all questions in one go.

"Impressive memory…" Cobra noted.

Then just before anyone could ask anything else, the door broke down once again.

"Alright, settle down everyone!" Stufful spoke up when he and the Bewear were in the locker room the Unity Guild's Normal Rank team were in.

Everyone instantly paid attention, not wanting to incur the wrath of Bewear.

"Now that I have your attention, it is time to teach you how the tournament will work. Though it is more for the sake of first timers like Team Night Tide," Stufful stated. "But a refresher couldn't hurt. Each team will be put against another by a random selection. You could even be put against each other. The rules are simple; you win if one team manages to knock out the other. All three team members must be unconscious for the other team to win. Killing is strictly prohibited. You may use items in battle. Though items that cause any permanent damages or transformations, and Reviver Seeds are banned. It is important to put on a good show for the audience and the Guildmasters if you wish to rank up, especially those who are aiming for a higher rank than just Bronze. So try to be as flashy and stylistic as possible. Also remember to work with your teammates, Guildmasters put you all in a team for a reason after all. When it is your team's turn to battle, we will come and get you. Otherwise you are to wait here or keep track of when it's your turn to battle if you choose to leave the waiting room to do whatever. Are there any questions?"

Dust raised his arm to ask his question. "So how exactly will we know who and when we will be fighting if we are not here for you to get us?"

"Once the turn order is decided, you will be given a schedule for when it will be your turn to battle," The Stufful answered. "It's important that you are here once it gets close to your turn, otherwise you will be disqualified for arriving late. Are there any other questions?"

Dust shook his head, seeing the others in the room also shake theirs as well.

"Good, then take this time to prepare, we will return shortly if one of you are the first to go," Stufful said as he signaled to Bewear. Just like last time, the Bewear easily placed the door back on, showing no further damage to it.

"I'll never get over how that Bewear can so easily break and fix that door," Ivy remarked while the others agreed with her.

"So, who do you think is gonna be the first one to fight?" Roxy asked, while wagging her tail. "I hope it's us, I'm itching to get out there and show them what we are made of!"

"Calm down, Roxy, don't use up all your energy before we even get into our first battle," Cobra chuckled.

"Your teammate lacks self control," Slash noted.

As if on cue, Sparky was licking Dust's paw. "Good luck to you out there, Team Night Tide! I can't wait to see your battle!"

"Who has the team member with little self control?" Cobra smirked.

"Well I for one can't wait until we get out there!" Jessie proclaimed. "The crowd will be sure to remember our name when we make our first appearance!"

"You got that right, I wouldn't be surprised if our intro alone would grant us a higher rank!" James added.

"Wobbuffet!" Wobbuffet agreed.

"The tournament seems to have elements of how humans used to use Pokemon Contests to show off their Pokemon's moves in flashy and stylistic ways," Tippi noted. "I like that idea actually, to be able to show off our moves like that."

"That's why I've been working on my acrobatics in the air, I hope it'll be enough to impress them," Talon chuckled.

"The Guildmasters that are watching us this month are pretty tough to impress though…" Berry noted quietly, she and Shab were sitting on some chairs in the room. "I mean what could really impress someone like the Hellfire himself?"

"He did seem interested in you, Berry, and I'm sure it's for good reasons," The Feebas tried to reassure her.

Berry shook her head, she remembered how Igneel seemed to have glared at her, it made her want to disappear. _I hope I didn't do something that made the Hellfire angry with me._

"Well, one way or another, I just hope we aren't the first ones to fight. I would rather watch first, get the feel for things," Dust admitted. "Then I'll be ready for whenever we are meant to fight."

Then suddenly, the door broke down again.

"That was fast!" All the Pokemon said in shock.

Stufful smiled as Bewear gave out the schedule papers to all the leader's of the team. Dust, being the official leader of Team Night Tide, was handed the schedule. His mouth dropped down when he saw that the first match was Team Night Tide vs. a team called Team Aura Force from the Lucernus Guild. Behind Dust, Swiper tossed a small bag of Poke to Caper, having clearly made a bet recently and now had won.

"Team Night Tide, please come with us to the arena for your first match," Stufful stated.

Berry and Shab looked at each other, surprised that they were the first team to battle, before Shab floated onto Berry's head, and the Goomy slithered over to Dust, climbing back onto his back.

"Guess we're up first then after all…" Berry sighed.

"Yeah, just our luck," Dust agreed.

"Cheer up, I'm sure it'll be fun!" Shab said, hoping to get Berry and Dust to loosen up their tensions.

"Good luck out there, Team Night Tide," Talon said.

"Yeah, we'll be rooting for you!" Roxy smiled.

"We'll be cheering for you!" Sparky added, making Roxy huffed.

"I just said that!" Roxy grumbled.

"No, you said 'rooting', I said 'cheering'!" Sparky retorted.

Bewear gestured to the door, before Dust sighed and walked out the broken door with Stufful walking in front of him. Bewear, who was behind them, pulled the door back up.

"Good luck out there, Team Night Tide, I look forward to seeing how you'll do in your first match~" Stufful smiled innocently.

Dust was breathing deeply as he was making his way towards the arena. _Okay Dust, you've been preparing for this. Remember all the training you've been through, all the missions, all the sparring matches you had with Berry._

Dust tried, but despite all that, he still felt nervous. But then he recalled his mother's speech, and as he did, he started feeling less and less nervous. _That's right,r emember to never give up, to always get back up and show the world who you are! Show them why you are here, show them why you have dawned on the title of Crusader! Show them that it is possible to do the impossible!_

Dust could feel Berry on his back, a feeling he had gotten used to and took comfort in, knowing his partner got his back, both literally and figuratively. He and Berry had gone through many close calls, and had each other's backs since then. Now with Shab on their side, Dust knew they had a good chance of not only winning, but rising up in the ranks as well.

Stufful reached the double doors that would lead them to the arena. Dust could already hear the crowd on the other side, cheering, eagerly waiting for the first match to start.

"Berry, Shab, let's do this!" Dust spoke up.

"Yes, I know we can do this," Berry answered back, who was still nervous, but also determined.

"I'm ready when you are!" Shab smiled.

The doors opened, and Dust walked into the arena, hearing the crowd cheering loudly in excitement.

* * *

**Jewel moonstone****: Traveling Master: **XD Thanks, glad you enjoy the cuteness. We plan on keeping up with the cuteness! And hopefully Shab will conquer his quest for love.

**Guest #1****: DarkFoxKit:** Cliff would likely have an egg move or two, we just haven't figured out what they would be yet. We don't want to fill her moves with egg moves though, just a couple. And egg moves aren't exclusive to just Pokemon hatching with them in this story. If a Feebas can learn Dragon Pulse via egg move, then Shab can learn it eventually too.

**Traveling Master: **Egg moves are pretty cool though, they did give us some ideas for some characters, but that's all I'll say, any more and it'll just be in spoiler territory.

**Moonshadow****: DarkFoxKit: **Yeah, but it's going to be a while before Shab can evolve. Normally a Pokemon would be able to evolve while holding an item right away by trading, or in Mystery Dungeon's case, the spot you go to evolve. But here you'll need to keep holding it until a certain amount of time. For a Feebas, it'd take years for them to become beautiful enough to evolve, the Prism Scarf helps shorten that, but it will still take a while. That, and we also didn't want Shab to be a Milotic this early on. And yeah, Shab really likes Berry.

**Sweet Comet****: DarkFoxKit:** We're not going to list the moves on here, that would take up too much space. If you can get a fanfiction account, one of us can send you a private message with a list of their moves, but be warned, their moves will be changing constantly throughout the story. If you don't want to get an account, then don't worry about it. We at least know what their moves are to use in the story.

**Greatest Guy****: Traveling Master: **Yup, this is something we've been planning for a while now. Things are building up, Berry's almost evolving, as well as other stuff too. And Dust has grown since taking his first steps inside Unity Guild. He still has a lot to learn, but he at least knows the value of friendship. And wise words spoken, but we have lots of plans for Shab and the others.

**Chihiro: *Suddenly appears out of nowhere* **Not to mention was a brilliant pun they made at the end! Oh, seeing these young fighters in the tournament just reminds me of my _Golden_ years.

**Shining Specter****: DarkFoxKit:** Yes, Berry is indeed afraid of evolving. She may be in denial of what she is, but that doesn't mean she's completely ignorant. From the moment she saw that Goodra, she knew, deep down, what she was. And she's terrified of it. If she becomes that thing she was afraid of, she wouldn't be able to deny it anymore, and would be forced to live out her nightmares. So it's not that hard to figure out why Berry won't evolve, but I guess it can be obscure if people don't realize how much that wild Goodra affected Berry.

**Astral Haze****: Traveling Master: **Like I mentioned before, we've been planning this for a while now. We got lots of surprises, plans, and such for this tournament, so we hope you and the others will enjoy!

**Guest #2****: DarkFoxKit:** Do you know how Everstones work? ^^' It only works if the Pokemon is holding it, no, it doesn't permanently stop them from evolving if they're not holding it. Yes, the item can break. I won't be saying if it does happen. I won't be answering any questions that would spoil something in the plot.

Berry is terrified of Goodra, and she knows what she was from the moment she saw the Goodra. Being in denial, and not knowing what you are are two different things. Berry _wishes_ she didn't know. And if she evolves, she won't be able to deny it anymore.

Shab knows that Dust doesn't feel about Berry that way, they're more like good friends, or if they do love each other, it's more of a sibling love.

**Traveling Master: **Plus, we're not even sure if Dust will have any romantic interest in the future. Not saying that he won't but at the same time, I honestly have no clue if he will.

**DarkFoxKit:** Shab knows what he evolves into because he lived with other Feebas and likely a Milotic parent. Unlike Berry, who was raised by a family of Quagsire, she had never seen her own evolved form until that Goodra in Waterfall Cavern. Berry's egg was lost and hatched by the Quagsire, so she didn't lose her memory, she didn't have any to begin with at the time. Remember Berry's backstory?

The silhouette was a Sliggoo.

**FoxyKhai209:** **Traveling Master: **Well, as DF explained earlier, Berry has been through a lot, and evolving would mean being what she feared most. But you pretty much explained it too with your examples. Certain Pokemon just prefer to stay in their current forms. But I like to think that there might be cases where they may struggle to evolve, or in Berry's case, are afraid to evolve.

And yeah, I can understand why you wouldn't wish to evolve Glameow. Most Pokemon have amazing evolutions...and others...well...everyone is special in their own way. As for the tournament, well, you're just gonna have to wait and see.

**Ice Blossom****: DarkFoxKit:** I'm honestly surprised so many people don't seem to understand why Berry doesn't want to evolve. I thought we made it clear, but evidently not. Basically, Berry is afraid of evolving, because she knows what she was. The minute she saw the Goodra, she knew. She's in denial. She knew if she evolves, she can't deny it anymore and her nightmare will come true. So it's not so much as her wanting to stay as a Goomy, it's more she's terrified of what she would become.

**lonelyboi69****: **The Everstone will keep Berry from evolving as long as she's holding it. But… I'll let you see what will happen in the tournament, anything I say would be spoilers at this point. But you have a good guess.

I will say that Berry and Dust are not in the same egg group, so even if they did get together, it wouldn't do much in the future. And they don't feel each other in that way, they have a more best friends or sibling relationship than a romantic one. Berry is also… clueless when it comes to someone being romantically in love with her.

**Guest #3****: Traveling Master: **I can neither deny or confirm the possibility of a sequel, for that alone just spoils the story. For now, we are only focusing on this story. Whether we plan to do a sequel or not, only time will tell.

**The Moonfox Collective:** **Traveling Master: **Love the nicknames for the wild gender bend counterpart for Dust and Berry. And yeah, was about to ask about the whole getting shot at, but if you're used to it by now, I see no problem with that. And that's all it takes, practice. Who knows, you might even return those shots back.

**DarkFoxKit:** Thank you, finally someone understood why Berry didn't want to evolve! I've had to keep explaining that to the last several reviewers. ^^' And yeah, we are kinda going with the Pokedex entries, mostly because it works well with our character driven plots.

Cliff isn't quite battle ready yet, but she is excited to learn how to battle to be strong like her 'parents' are. She also wants to become a Crusader because her 'mother' always talked about how she enjoys helping other Pokemon. They've been a pretty good influence on the young Larvitar. XD

Shab has no issues with evolving, it's getting there that would be a while. We also didn't want him to be a Milotic this early on in the story.

**Traveling Master: **That would be pretty crazy if they formed a clan. Heck, I'm sure in the past that's how some clans were formed in the first place. We do have many plans for Team Night Tide, won't go into much details, but we do hope you like some of the members we have planned for them. But I do agree, just how Cliff treats Dust and Berry as family, Team Night Tide will end up forming a bond just like that, a family.

**Chihiro: **Which is why I love Unity Guild so much. Doesn't matter if we are related, what size, shape, or type you may be, all are welcomed to the guild, for we treat each other as family. And thank you for your kind words, it does make me proud to be called Chi-_HERO_! Keep this up and I'll have to make a _Collective_ of all these puns. And I won't stop until I do so, not in this life, or I guess in my case, the after life!

**DarkFoxKit:** Maybe I should start taking shots after you fed Chihiro that pun...

**Chihiro: **Oh, no need to have such _Dark_ thoughts, though all jokes are welcome, I have quite a lot of puns in my own _Kit_.

**DarkFoxKit:** ***Storms off into another room***

**Chihiro: **Ah, there she goes, _Travelling _on her own. Well, I'm sure she's had quite the experience with dealing with puns. In fact, you might even call her a _Master._

**Traveling Master: **...I think...that's enough puns for today…

**Chihiro: **Wait, I got some more!

**Traveling Master: **Nope, that's enough. Bye everyone, see ya next time!

**Chihiro:** Oooh! Here's one! You must've felt quite _hot_ when you lost your save data, that you _Switch_ed to being cold and frozen.

***TM's right eye twitched at being reminded about his saved file***

**Traveling Master: **You are so dead!

**Chihiro: **Already am!

***Chihiro continued to laugh as TM chased after the Ghost Dragon, leaving only Dust to himself.***

**Dust: **Funny, I guess today's AN I'm the sane one. Well, that's all folks!


	27. Chapter 27: The First Battle Begins!

**DarkFoxKit:** So… TM, do you feel any better since the… uh… Switch power outage last week?

**Traveling Master: **Oh that, yeah. Was lucky enough to actually have a hot day when I continued, so I was able to finish that quest.

**Dust: **I think she meant the whole, being shock, then later chasing my Guildmaster for hours.

**Traveling Master: *My right eye twitched for a moment* **That was just...an accident. It won't happen again, especially if others don't keep bringing it up.

**DarkFoxKit:** Great! So why don't you relax and have some cake? ***Holds out a big cake with chocolate fudge icing on it***

**Traveling Master: *My stomach rumbles at the sight of cake* **Well, it's never too early for cake. I'll go grab the milk so we can enjoy this chocolate cake!

**Dust: *Tapped my shoulder* **Uh...I suggest you eat that cake now, before it's too late.

**Traveling Master: **Why?! What did you do?! ***I turn back to the cake to see that it was gone* **WHAT HAPPENED TO THE CAKE?!

**DarkFoxKit:** … So… that wasn't you, was it, TM? It was a Chameleon though, same species as you.

**Traveling Master: **It wasn't me! I was busy talking with Dust! ***I then hear the sound of loud chewing, and I turn to see another Charmeleon already stuffing their face with the cake* **...What are you doing here?!

**The Charmeleon: *Tried speaking, but their mouth was full of cake***

**Traveling Master: **Swallow, dang it!

**The Charmeleon: *Takes a full minute to chew and swallow the contents that was in his mouth* **Hey, so I was told there was food. So I just assumed the cake was for me.

**DarkFoxKit:** Wait… Al? What are you doing here? No… you said what you were doing here… _how_ did you get here?

***Al had already put another piece of cake in his mouth, so he just pointed at Dust. Both TM and DF slowly turned to the Absol, glaring daggers at him.***

**Dust:** What? It was starting to get repetitive with only me and occasionally Chihiro. You both got mad at me for bringing everyone, so I thought I'd start smaller and bring Al. He seems like someone who wouldn't really be confused about the fourth wall!

**DarkFoxKit:** Stop bringing in our characters from the fourth wall! You're going to break the universe if you keep this up! … Why am I the only non-Pokemon character on here? Have you noticed that? How have I not noticed that?

**Al: **Really? I just thought you were a Zorua...A weird looking one. So if you're not a Pokemon, what are you?...Also...does your kind taste good crispy, or fried?

**DarkFoxKit:** First of all, no I am not a Zorua. I am just a little dark fox kit. Second, no, no we do not taste good, fried, crispy, or otherwise.

**Al:** You sure? Maybe I should at least taste your paw or something.

**DarkFoxKit:** No. ***Starts walking to my room*** If you two need me ***Looks at TM and Dust*** I'll be in my room, getting the Charmeleon gun ready.

**Traveling Master: **...Dust...Are you sure you didn't just bring Al just to get on DarkFoxKit's nerves?

**Dust: **What? No. I just thought that Al's unique personality would've been a great addition to the AN...How was I supposed to know that he has a knack for somehow getting on other people's nerves?

**Traveling Master: **...Uh huh...Hey DF! You best alsot get the gun for Absol too!

**Al:** Is there anymore cake?

***TM could already hear what sounded like someone cocking a gun***

**Dust: **And that, my friend, is our cue to run. ***Dust patted Al's back before running away, which the Charmeleon decides to follow***

**DarkFoxKit: *Comes back down with the Charmeleon gun, sees TM*** Oooooh Al, I have something nice and tasty for you right here~ ***Aims the gun at TM, who is also a Charmeleon***

**Traveling Master: *I was still looking at where Dust and Al had ran off too, not knowing that DF was currently pointing a gun at me* **Well you better hurry and shoot.

**DarkFoxKit: *Shoots at the Charmeleon, thinking he was Al. TM suddenly felt a water bullet hitting his stomach***

***TM is sent flying towards the wall, slamming hard against it as his body slowly drags down the side and to the ground. TM only has a shocked expression, and it looked like his soul was starting to leave his body.**

**DarkFoxKit: *Has murderous yellow stars in her eyes*** Maybe I should see what a wet Charmeleon tastes like! DO YOU LIKE THAT IDEA AL!? ***Jumps towards TM just as the camera went static***

* * *

**Chapter 27: The First Battle Begins!**

Dust, Berry, and Shab were immediately bathed in bright lights as they approached the arena. The crowd was going wild as they stepped through the doors. On the other side of the arena was a team of three as well. The Pokemon in front was likely the leader; a Riolu, though this Riolu had green eyes instead of red like other Riolu. There was a Raboot behind the Riolu, and a Glaceon beside the Raboot. Both teams came onto the arena and stopped a few feet away from each other. Berry was still on Dust's back, and Shab was still on Berry's head.

The announcer Mawile was standing in the center, holding the microphone. "Alright, thank you all for your patience, I'm sure everyone is just as excited as I am to get this tournament started! In our first match we have from the Unity Guild, Team Night Tide! We have Dust Absol, the leader of the team, and the very son of Eclipse. Since joining Unity Guild he has made quite the reputation for himself, known for his many close encounters with death, each closer than the last. Some are still surprised that he had escaped death not once, but _three_ times!"

Everyone in the crowd cheered, except for one Pokemon. Eclipse was surprised when she saw Dust walk out onto the arena, but after hearing the Mawile's introduction, she started to freak out.

"HE _WHAT_?!" Eclipse shouted while exerting killing intent.

"Seems as though your son has been busy lately," Grace slightly chuckled.

"I am gonna kill him," Eclipse muttered, glaring daggers at Dust.

Dust, who could sense his mother's glare, shivered as he whispered to Berry. "My mother is gonna kill me."

"... Wouldn't be the first time you'd brush with death…" Berry muttered. "But let's not have you get close to death a fourth time, please."

"You're… kind of prone to death, aren't you?" Shab sweatdropped. "I thought Absol were supposed to warn others of danger, not almost die multiple times."

"I seem to have a knack for attracting danger," Dust gave an embarrassed laugh.

"Next we have Berry Goomy, who dared to go into a dangerous dungeon that was way above her rank and skill level, as well as having that powerful Dragon Pokemon, in order to save her partner's life. She was raised by a family of Quagsire, but had come pretty far despite being raised differently than most Pokemon!" Patricia continued.

"H-how did she know about that?" Berry whispered in embarrassment as the crowd sounded surprised themselves.

"Maybe they've done their research?" Dust suggested.

The crowd was impressed at hearing Berry's achievements, though it only made Berry feel more nervous than she was before. But as she scanned the crowd, she noticed that on top of the Volcanic Ash column, Igneel was staring at her once more. His glare caused Berry to shiver, wondering why the Hellfire was watching her, as though studying her. But after a couple seconds Igneel finally looked away, seeming to have lost interest in her.

"And their newest team member, Shab Feebas, who has yet to prove himself, but he shows great promise!" Patricia announced. "And on the other side of the arena, we have Team Aura Force from the Lucernus Guild! Emerald Riolu, a Riolu who was born with green eyes instead of red, she was raised by powerful Fighting type Pokemon since she was an egg in Canyon Village, and has gained quite the reputation among her guild."

"A Riolu with green eyes?" Dust was amazed at seeing another Pokemon with a different set of eyes. If it wasn't for the fact that they were about to fight, Dust would've asked the Riolu all the questions that were popping in his mind.

"And we have Rudy Raboot. He was wandering around near Canyon Village lost as a Scorbunny, and was taken in by Emerald's family. Both of them had been training together as friends since then, and became a team in the Lucernus Guild. They can definitely count on each other!" Patricia stated.

"They do look like they're pretty close friends," Shab muttered.

"It's a little hard to tell with how Rudy barely looks at anyone without looking grumpy," Berry remarked.

"And finally, we have Icy Glaceon," Patricia continued. "Icy was an Eevee who was lost in the snowy mountains, and was found, rescued, and taken in by some kind hearted Ice type Pokemon and nursed her back to health. They dubbed her as Icy before she eventually became the graceful Glaceon you see before you. Icy had joined with Team Aura Force, and became a valuable member since then."

Dust was very impressed with Team Aura Force, their team having unique members. Especially Icy, Dust recalled only seeing one other Eeveelution and that was the Leafeon that requested their Water Stone be returned. Despite only being minutes away from fighting them, Dust was grateful for the chance to be meeting some new Pokemon.

"Alright, teams, we want to keep it clean," Patricia stated. "Remember, killing is strictly prohibited, there will be no uses of items that would cause permanent damage or transformations, and no being brutal to each other. This is supposed to be a sport of good spirit and nature. Battle the best you can and have fun!"

Both teams gave a nod.

"Good, now then…" Patricia raised the giant mouth on her head. "Let the battle… BEGIN!"

Patricia swiped down her giant mouth as the bell rang, then she quickly got off the arena.

As soon as the battle had begun, Emerald was the first to react. She created a sphere of blue energy of some kind and threw it at Dust. Dust, thankfully having a fast reaction time, put up a Protect barrier around him, Berry, and Shab. The white barrier stopped the Aura Sphere from hitting them.

Once the Protect barrier was down, Berry jumped from Dust's back. Shab flopped up from Berry's head and shot out an Ice Beam from his mouth at Emerald while Berry used Water Pulse. The Ice Beam connected with the swirls of water, turning it to ice. The icy Water Pulse slammed into Emerald. Emerald hissed before her foot was burning with fire, Dust recognized that as Blaze Kick since he was hit by it from Brody before, breaking out of the icy Water Pulse that had her body trapped.

Rudy the Raboot used his strong legs to bounce up high at Berry and Shab, before he kicked Berry in the head, and again at Shab, likely using Double Kick on them.

Icy moved in close as Berry and Shab were falling, and blew out an Icy Wind at all three of them. Dust felt cold, and his body slowing down. Berry yelped as the Icy Wind hit her as well, she hated Ice type attacks the most out of the group. Shab was the most resistant, but his body still slowed down from it.

"This is going to be tougher than I thought," Dust mumbled as Icy continued using Icy Wind. "Need to think of a strategy fast."

"Team Night Tide," Emerald suddenly spoke up. "I've heard about you. However, while you did build up a bit of a reputation for yourselves, I'm afraid you're no match for us. We have enough skill to rival a Silver Rank team, or even a Gold Rank. I'm not trying to brag, it's just facts. We have taken on and beaten Silver Rank teams during training, we know what we are capable of."

"Our teamwork is also flawless," Rudy added. "You're not going to beat us so easily."

"Good to know that our reputation has reached even other guilds," Dust replied. "But you're not the only one who's been through hard trials either!"

Berry opened her mouth and condensed her Dragon Breath, turning it from purple to blue. Then she unleashed the condense Dragon Breath at Icy. The Dragon Breath ignored the Icy Wind and slammed itself into the Glaceon, cutting off the attack and pushed Icy back several feet.

"Nice one, Berry!" Shab flopped around energetically.

Now that they were able to move more easily, and Emerald and Rudy were busy worrying about Icy, Dust went over to Berry and Shab, whispering to them. "Berry, Shab, you two focus with long range attacks as I draw their attention. They seem to be well versed in special attacks, so I'll close in on them while you two focus on your attacks."

"But what about the Raboot? That one uses close range attacks," Berry pointed out, remembering the Bounce and Double Kick combination he did on them.

"That's what I'm counting on," Dust answered before quickly telling him his plan.

"I'm okay… it just took me by surprise," Icy reassured her teammates as she got on her feet, though her body was numb, likely from paralysis.

"Here, eat this," Emerald stated, giving Icy a Cheri Berry.

The Glaceon gratefully munched on the Cheri Berry, recovering from the paralysis.

"We should attack them quickly before they have another chance to use another powerful attack like that," Rudy suggested.

"I can handle the Goomy, I have a plan on how to deal with her," Icy said.

As Team Aura Force recovered, Dust had started charging at them, his tail giving a silvery glow. He aimed towards Icy, her weakness being Steel type, and he wanted to take out the one who could possibly give them the most trouble.

As Dust closed in, Emerald held out her palms at Dust before slamming them into his chest. Dust let out a gasp as it felt like the Riolu just slapped the air right out of him, and his body hit the floor. It reminded him of his battle with Brody, but luckily, compared to the two, Brody's punches and kicks were much worse. But the Riolu didn't know that, so he stayed there until an opportunity had arisen.

"Way to go Emerald! No one can ever get up after getting hit by your Force Pa-!" Rudy shouted.

Rudy was interrupted suddenly by a sudden hit by a Water Pulse. Rudy let out a scream as that was a weakness for him. Then Berry, who had jumped quite a bit, used her antennae to throw the Feebas from her head, right into Emerald. Shab slammed into Emerald's chest with a thrown Tackle attack, and he quickly floated back before Emerald could get back up. Emerald, growling, created an Aura Sphere and threw it at Shab. Shab reacted by shooting out an Ice Beam at the Aura Sphere. The Aura Sphere started to freeze, but it broke through Shab's Ice Beam. Shab yelped as he was hit, and fell back a few feet.

"Shab!" Berry called out in concern when she landed. "Are you alright?"

"Fine… a little bruised… but I can still battle…" Shab groaned.

Rudy, who didn't like having his fur all wet, began to charge at Berry and Shab, his body coating with flames. While Rudy was running past the 'unconscious' Absol, Dust reacted quickly, he jumped from his position and slammed his head blade into Rudy's side. The flames dissipated from Rudy's body as he squealed from the sudden unexpected attack.

"Incredible!" Patricia commented. "At first everyone thought Dust had fainted, only to use Faint Attack on the unsuspecting Raboot!"

_Faint Attack? It didn't feel like that. _Dust would've thought about it more but they were still in the middle of a battle.

The crowd had mixed reactions, some booing at Dust for using such a cheap tactic, while others were cheering, saying that he is a Dark type after all. Grace was rather impressed by the maneuver.

"That was an interesting strategy," Grace commented. "I didn't know your kind could use Faint Attack."

"...We can't," Eclipse replied, watching Dust closely, feeling both pride in her son, but also resentment at seeing the move. _That's the move _he _had._

Rudy, now angry at the sneak attack, charged at the Absol with Flame Charge. Emerald, who was also angry at Dust for attacking her friend, came at him with her foot on fire, intending to use Blaze Kick. Thinking fast, Dust put up the white barrier of Protect around his body just as both attacks hit it, causing them to bounce off.

Icy ran past Dust, however, seeming to be ignoring him and was going after Berry and Shab. Dust tried to go after the Glaceon, but when his Protect wore off, he was quickly hit in the back by Double Kick from Rudy.

"Don't think we're going to let you go so easily, Absol," Rudy hissed, putting his foot on Dust's head.

Icy summoned shards of ice around her before aiming it at Berry. Berry shot out circles of water at the Ice Shard in hopes of cancelling out the move. The Ice Shard, however, did go through her Water Pulse, though only a few of them did, so Berry didn't get hit with the full force, but it still hurt.

Icy smirked as her fur was starting to have a strange shine to them. Berry, seeing that Icy appeared to be waiting for her next move, quickly used this opportunity to use Dragon Breath, however Berry didn't condense her Dragon Breath this time and used a normal Dragon Breath attack. Icy let the Dragon Breath hit her, and after it did, a powerful energy suddenly built up in the Glaceon.

"What the…" Berry's eyes widened. "Oh no…"

Icy had used Mirror Coat, and was returning Berry's attack right back at her with a blast of energy.

Dust heard an explosion, and looked up to see Berry and Shab were looking a little worse for wear. He had the bag, he had the healing items, he had to get to them quick or he would be left alone against this tough team of three, and they would surely lose. He tried to get up, but Rudy continued to press his foot against his head.

"You might as well give up," Rudy said, pressing a bit harder on Dust.

"It's like I said earlier, you're no match for us," Emerald added.

Dust was getting frustrated, unable to get up. But then he started calming down, knowing that getting angry would only cause him to lose focus. But just as he thought that, he started to form a plan, the only problem was that Berry and Shab were too far away to hear him. If they could he knew they could possibly win. He wanted more than anything to share his plans with them, feeling frustration once more being unable to do anything.

_If only Berry could fire a Sludge Bomb towards my location, then I could use the distraction and break free. _Dust thought to himself, but figured that for the moment he was on his own.

"Time to finish this," Emerald said as she began to ready a Force Palm on Dust as Rudy kept Dust pinned down with his foot.

Suddenly, a purple ball of poisonous sludge hit Rudy right in the face, temporarily blinding him and made him stagger back. Though surprised, Dust didn't waste any time moving away from Emerald when he was free from Rudy's foot, and he barely managed to dodge Emerald's Force Palm, which had hit the ground so hard that it left a small dent behind.

_That was too close, but we are not out of the fight yet! _Dust thought to himself, he only had a few seconds to perform his next attack.

Recalling how he was able to use Faint Attack on Rudy, Dust prepared to use it once more. But instead of going for Rudy or Emerald, he rushed past them, his target Icy, whose back was still facing him. As he got closer and closer to the Glaceon, he started building up energy in his tail.

"Icy! Behind you!" Dust heard Emerald call out.

Icy looked behind to see Dust had just leaped in the air, his tail giving off a silvery glow. Icy began to move quickly, however, Berry and Shab weren't having it. Shab jumped at Icy, and began to flail around, with how low his energy was, his Flail did more damage than it would have if he had been perfectly healthy. At the same time, Berry used Body Slam on Icy's head, which kept her from being able to move away quickly enough to dodge. Dust got in close and slammed his Iron Tail into Icy's side, causing Shab and Berry to jump off of her as the Glaceon went sliding across the floor.

Knowing that they don't have too much time, Dust grabbed two Oran Berries and held them out for Berry and Shab to eat. "Quick, eat these while we still have the chance."

Shab and Berry quickly ate and swallowed the Oran Berries, their wounds healing up. At the same time, Emerald tossed an Oran Berry at Icy, who quickly ate it to heal her own wounds.

"At this rate, the battle will not end in our favor," Berry noted with a frown. "Do you have any items that might slow them down, Dust?"

"Let me check real fast," Dust answered as he looked in his bag.

_We have a few Berries left, a Blast, Stun, and Sleep Seed. Maybe one of those. One Totter Orb and One Petrify Orb. _Dust knew they had a few items left, but wasn't sure which one would help them out during this battle.

"Petrify Orb? We can use that to completely stun the other team," Berry suddenly said. "They won't be able to move!"

Dust was surprised by Berry's suggestion. He didn't even mention Petrify Orb. _Maybe she just saw it._

"Alright, but they aren't gonna stand around and let us use it," Dust added.

Team Aura Force pulled out an orb of their own.

"Wait, what is that orb they're using?" Shab asked.

Emerald held up the orb and it glowed brightly. Dust could see their bodies were glowing with a slight sparkling green.

"I don't know, but it looks like some kind of enhancing orb, we better act fast!" Dust said before he held up the Petrify Orb, and it glowed.

"Uh… Dust…" Berry frowned, seeing how none of Team Aura Force were remotely affected by the Petrify Orb. "They're fine… why isn't it working?"

"... They used a Health Orb," Dust answered, shocked that they have one. "It gives you the Healthy Status, meaning you cannot be affected by any bad status conditions. It's a very powerful orb and very hard to come by."

"Meaning… our Sleep and Stun Seeds aren't going to work anymore… and neither would our Totter Orb…" Shab frowned. "They just cut our arsenal in half."

"Don't give up just yet…" Berry said. "We can still use the Blast Seed for heavy damage. We need to focus on taking one of them out. Having all three of them coming at us is dangerous."

"The question is which one?" Dust asked as he studied his opponents.

_Icy would be the ideal target, but they know that we've been targeting during this match, so they would be on extra guard. Rudy mostly deals with physical attacks, but it isn't too hard to throw him off guard. But I think now he would be extra careful. The most dangerous one would most likely be Emerald. _Dust thought, as he recalled the small dent the Riolu had made.

"We may have to target the Riolu, she's the one with all the items, and out of the three seems to be the strongest," Dust suggested.

"I have to agree, that Riolu hits pretty hard." Shab nodded.

"But even if we aim for Emerald, what would we do about the other two? They're likely going to try to protect her," Berry asked as Team Aura Force began to approach them. "Whatever we're going to do, we better do it fast. They're about to go on the offense again."

Rudy began to charge at them with a Flame Charge. Shab hopped up and fired an Ice Beam in hopes of cooling off the Raboot, but it didn't do much. Berry jumped out and hit Rudy with an on head Tackle. Both Berry and Rudy slide back a few feet.

"Berry, can you use Rain Dance?" Dust asked.

"Yeah," Berry answered. "I was able to use it during training."

"Then use it now, we need to weaken those Fire attacks," Dust stated.

"Gotcha." The Goomy nodded before she moved around a bit and let out a call to the ceiling.

Emerald and Rudy were coming in with Blaze Kick and Flame Charge. Dust and Shab braced themselves, getting in front of Berry to protect her. Dust and Shab had to take the two Fire attacks. At the same time, storm clouds formed above the arena, and it began to have a downpour. The rain dissipated the flames on Emerald's feet, and the flames on Rudy's body.

Taking this chance, both Dust and Shab fired Ice Beam at Emerald and Rudy. They knew they wouldn't be frozen due to the Health Orb, but that didn't mean they could not take damage. After pushing them back a bit, Dust reached into his bag and tossed Berry the Blast Seed.

"Berry, remember how I used the seed in Strange Mansion?" Dust shouted out. "See if you could do something like that here!"

Berry opened her mouth to let the Blast Seed fall into it. The seed immediately caused her mouth to feel like it was on fire. She didn't fire it right away, however, she took this time to ready her Dragon Breath for extra measure.

"That Goomy is up to something, be careful guys!" Emerald warned her teammates.

"We better take her out before she can do anything then!" Rudy shouted as he charged forward, followed by Emerald.

Dust tried to hold them off, but the Raboot quickly kicked Dust to the side.

Berry blasted out the Blast Seed's fire along with her Dragon Breath, causing the flames to look purple, blue, and red at the same time. Icy jumped in front of the attack, her fur shining with Mirror Coat. Shab, seeing this, used Tackle to push the Glaceon away, but this caused him to get caught up in the attack. The fiery Dragon Breath also engulfed Rudy and Emerald since they had been charging at Berry earlier.

"Shab!" Berry cried out in concern when the attack ended. "Dust! Give Shab a berry, fast!"

Dust hurried to the Feebas, but Shab was out cold, and out of the fight. Patricia hurried over to Rudy, Shab, and Emerald to see if they were still capable of going on. Shab was definitely out though. Emerald was still conscious, and she managed to push herself up. Rudy though…

"Ooh! It would appear that Blast Seed and Dragon Breath combination had a double knock out! Rudy is out cold, unfortunately the other knockout was Team Night Tide's own teammate! So now both teams are down one member!" Patricia announced.

Two Audino came up to the arena, one Audino picked up Rudy, while the other picked up Shab, and carried them away from the arena, likely to take them to a medical bay to heal them up.

Berry frowned, she realized that Shab sacrificed himself to keep Icy from using Mirror Coat on that last attack, but she couldn't help but feel bad that she put Shab in such a state.

Patricia got off from the arena. "You may resume the battle!"

"Berry, get on my back, we are going to have to stick together from here on out," Dust told Berry.

The Goomy nodded before she hopped onto Dust's back. "Yeah. We need to watch out for that Glaceon's Mirror Coat…"

"Yeah, so far they have the type advantage, and range advantage...Unless," Dust then recalled the dent Emerald had left on the ground before looking at Berry, thinking of all the times her body was able to absorb heavy impact in the past. "Berry, I think I know a way to win. What if you…"

Dust started whispering his idea to Berry.

"Are you sure?" The Goomy questioned in an unsure tone.

"If you can take a hit from Grant, then I'm sure it will work," Dust nodded.

Meanwhile, Icy was looking at Emerald in concern, who was munching on an Oran Berry. "Emerald, are you alright?"

Emerald swallowed the Oran Berry. "I'm fine… that last attack almost wiped me out though… and we lost Rudy in the process. We will avenge him. But we only have one more Oran Berry left."

"I understand. Don't worry, we will take them down. We have the advantage," Icy reassured before glaring at Dust and Berry.

"Indeed we do. I will take out the Absol, you aim for the Goomy," Emerald instructed, building up an Aura Sphere with her hands.

Dust eyed Emerald, seeing that she was already building up an Aura Sphere. He waited for just the right moment. Berry was on his back, so Icy couldn't attack her without getting to him as well, and he intended to keep it that way. Icy created Ice Shards around her before aiming them towards Berry, while Emerald shot out her Aura Sphere at them.

Thankfully, since it had been a little while since he last used it, Dust was able to use Protect again, creating the barrier to cause the attacks to bounce off harmlessly. Dust knew that they would attack the moment the barrier went down, so as soon as it did, he jumped to the side. It was a wise decision, for as soon as the barrier had disappeared, Emerald and Icy had already fired another Aura Sphere and Ice Shards where Dust was before. Dust knew it would be risky, but he charged towards Team Aura Force before they could use another range attack.

With the rain still going, Icy decided to use that to her advantage, and shot out an Icy Wind. The rain began to freeze with the Icy Wind, and it was causing Dust to slow down. Berry shot out a Water Pulse from Dust's back, powered up with the rain, and hit Icy with it, though the Water Pulse was a little weakened from the Icy Wind, it did push Icy back a few feet and stopped the Icy Wind attack. With Dust now close, Emerald charged to him. With the rain still up, she couldn't use her Blaze Kick, so instead, she was coming in with something else. Instead of Force Palm like Dust expected her to use, her fists were crackling with electricity. He recognized that as Thunder Punch.

Dust was considering ditching his plan, as he had not expected the Riolu to know Thunder Punch, but decided to hold his ground. _Berry may not fully accept it, but I know that she is a Dragon Pokemon. And one thing I do know for sure is that they are resistant to Electric attacks!_

"Now Berry!" Dust shouted as Emerald was only a few feet away from hitting Dust.

Berry was unsure at first when she saw Emerald use Thunder Punch, but she trusted Dust's plan. Jumping off Dust's back, she took on the full blow from Emerald's attack as Dust jumped out of the away. Emerald was not expecting this, but continued to follow on through with her attack, smashing Berry against the ground, causing electric bolts to shoot up into the air.

Though Emerald's attack finished, and she was about to pull her hand away from Berry, Berry clinged onto Emerald's hand with her gooey body.

"What?" Emerald frowned. "What are you doing? Let go!"

"I don't think so," Berry hissed before her body started to glow green.

Emerald suddenly felt weakened, like the energy in her body was being drained away. Realizing what the Goomy was doing, she tried to use Force Palm, but she couldn't get her palms to move since they were stuck on Berry's body. So she tried another Thunder Punch, building up electricity into her palms to shock Berry. Berry hissed, but remained on Emerald, still using Absorb.

"Let go of Emerald, right now!" Icy snapped, she began to prepare an Ice Shard attack when Dust stood in front of her.

"Sorry, but I'm afraid you have to deal with me first," Dust replied.

Icy glared. "Get out of my way."

"No, I think not," Dust answered back.

"Fine, then I'll make you!" Icy suddenly turned around, and surprised the Absol by kicking him twice with her back feet, and it hurt quite a bit.

"Ouch!" Dust yelped, but quickly recovered. "You guys really are really incredible, I can see why you were able to take down a Silver Rank team, but now it's my turn."

Icy knew that the Absol would most likely use Iron Tail, so before Dust could even use the attack, she used Icy Wind against Dust. Combined with the rain, the attack caused Dust's movement to slow once more. It was only thanks to his thick fur that he's been able to last this long, and with that he continued to move towards Icy. This now turned into a battle of endurance between Dust and Icy.

"Incredible! It has turned into a battle of endurance for Team Night Tide and Team Aura Force! Who will be the first to give out!?" Patricia announced while the crowd were watching on the edges of their seats.

Emerald was desperately trying to pull her sparkling hand from Berry's body. Berry hissed, but then looked over at Dust and Icy. Berry moved and slithered her body, which was wet and slippery thanks to the rain, until Emerald was facing directly at them.

"Okay, I'll let you go now," Berry said to Emerald.

"Wha-" Emerald began to question before Berry blasted her with a point blank, and powered up Water Pulse.

The Health Orb protected Emerald from the confusion status, but that didn't stop the powered up Water Pulse from causing the Riolu to be blasted back, right into Icy herself, cutting off the Icy Wind again, and allowing Dust to move freely.

Before Team Aura Force could recover, Dust quickly charged at them with an Iron Tail. Emerald and Icy tried to get up, but Dust twisted his body and hit Icy on her side, along with Emerald, knocking them a few feet away. Dust then went back to Berry while still keeping his eyes on Team Aura Force, just in case they tried to pull the same tactic that he had done earlier.

"Smart thinking, Berry. Blasting Emerald against her partner really helped me out," Dust commented.

"Thanks." Berry smiled.

Icy and Emerald groaned as they struggled to their feet, not wanting to admit defeat yet. Emerald took out another Oran Berry from her bag.

"Hurry, Dust, throw me up!" Berry frantically said.

Dust nodded as he picked up Berry and threw her in the air. Berry turned her body the other way, then used Water Pulse to propel herself back right into Emerald, slamming her down with a combination of Water Pulse propeller and Body Slam. Emerald dropped the Oran Berry as Berry slammed into her. Icy gasped, seeing her leader suddenly being slammed by a purple and green blur. However, the distraction cost Icy, because it gave Dust the opportunity to use Faint Attack on her. When Icy turned to face Dust, he was already in front of her and hit her with his head blade.

Berry slithered off of Emerald after they stopped sliding on the arena. Icy was on the ground as well after Dust's Faint Attack. Patricia came up on the arena to check Icy and Emerald to see if they could still battle. After a few seconds, Patricia got up and then pointed at Dust and Berry.

"And in a surprising turn of events, the winners of our first match of the day are Team Night Tide from the Unity Guild!" Patricia shouted into her mike.

The crowd erupted into a cheer. Chihiro, Spooks, Phantom, and Cliff were all joining in. Some of the other Guildmasters nodded, each impressed. Despite the loud noise coming from the crowd, there was one Pokemon who was cheering the loudest.

"That's right! That's my son right there!" Eclipse shouted, proud to see results of the match. She then realized that Grace was staring at her while trying not to laugh. Eclipse quickly corrected herself before replying. Though she was slightly blushing. "...Seems as though Dust is able to handle himself. Good for him."

Dust was blushing from hearing how his mother was able to out cheer and out shout the entire crowd like that. Berry was giving Dust an amused grin. "Looks like someone's mother is proud~"

"Well there's a first for everything," Dust lightly chuckled, trying to hide his blush.

"Congratulations, Team Night Tide, you have earned this victory!" Patricia smiled. "How was your first battle like?"

A couple of Chansey came onto the arena to pick up the unconscious Riolu and Glaceon while Patricia held out the microphone to Dust and Berry.

"Uh…" Dust was not expecting to suddenly be asked to give his comment, so he was not fully prepared. "It was… uh… challenging?"

"It was definitely challenging…" Berry agreed, though a bit shy to speak to the entire audience.

"You've heard it here, folks! Team Night Tide doesn't give up even in the faces of a challenge," Patricia stated. "I tell you, I have a feeling this team will go far!"

The crowd gave another cheer.

"You should return to your waiting room now, maybe get something to eat and recover from your battle," Patricia suggested. "The next battle will begin shortly."

Berry slithered up onto Dust's back before Dust turned and began walking back to the double doors that would lead him into the corridor where their waiting room was. Dust and Berry were surprised to see Shab there. At seeing them arrived, Shab quickly went to Berry, filled with joy at seeing her once more.

"Oh my sweet Berry, I counted the minutes I was kept away from you!" Shab said.

"Shab!" Berry hopped down from Dust's back. "Are you okay? You took that Blast Seed and Dragon Breath attack pretty hard."

Berry was checking the Feebas's body in concern for any wounds or burns. Shab started blushing so hard that he could almost pass off as a Magikarp, which Dust found rather interesting to see.

"Are you having a fever? You feel pretty hot," Berry asked worriedly, noticing the raise in the Feebas's temperature.

"N-no fever! I'm perfectly fine!" Shab quickly answered. "The medical team helped me recover, I'm just glad to see you two are alright. I heard that we won. Is it true?!"

Dust smiled at Shab. "It is, and it's all thanks to you. If it wasn't for you, Berry might not have been able to knock out one of their teammates, and I don't think she would've survived that Glaceon's Mirror Coat. And because of that, we were able to pull on through and obtain our first victory."

"Yeah, you really saved us back there, Shab," Berry agreed.

Shab's color looked like a Magikarp's at this point as he gave a big smile. "I-I'm glad then th-that I was a-able to c-contribute! I'm a-also glad t-to have k-kept Berry s-safe from s-such a brutal attack."

"Thanks, but don't do that again if you can avoid it. I don't like hurting my friends and teammates," Berry said before she gave Shab a hug.

Shab was nearly steaming at this point.

"Jeez, you should probably let him go before you have him boil himself alive," Ivy chuckled, seeing the interaction.

"I think it's sweet though," Tippi blushed herself.

"That was a pretty awesome battle," Talon added. "You had all of us on the edge of our seats."

"You should've seen Brody, he was practically going crazy after seeing Shab sacrifice himself for Berry. Saying it was the most romantic thing he's ever seen," Ivy remarked.

"I hope our battle would go as well as yours did," Talon chuckled. "I'd like to be able to show off as well."

"I'm sure we'll get our chance soon, Talon. According to the schedule, our battle is the 4th battle in this tournament, so we'll have to wait a few more battles and then we can show them what we're made of," Tippi encouraged.

Berry gave a thoughtful look before she looked at Dust. "Hey, Dust… since you were able to teach Shab Ice Beam without needing to use a TM, then maybe I could teach him how to use Water Pulse. I mean Shab is a Water type, he would benefit more if he could use a Water type move."

"Really? You would teach me, Berry?" Shab asked.

"Yeah, it might come in handy for our next match," Berry answered.

"You'd be able to teach him before our next match?" Dust asked. "I don't mean to sound doubtful, but it did take us a while for me to teach Shab Ice Beam."

"I'm going to at least try," Berry replied. "Maybe Shab won't be able to learn it before our next match, but if he does learn it, it will help us a lot, especially against Fire and Ground type Pokemon."

"You two did really good out there!" Roxy smiled excited as she ran over to them, while at the same time, Sparky came running up to them as well.

"You two did so awesome that I almost let out a spark of excitement!" Sparky wagged his tail.

"Impressive," Cobra stated as he slithered up to them while Sparky and Roxy glared at each other. "I thought it was rather unfortunate that you two would've had to face with Team Aura Force for your first match, they were known to be quite strong in their own guild. But you managed to pull through and beat them."

"We do owe Shab for that victory, if he hadn't pushed that Glaceon out of the way at the last second, there was a good chance we would've lost," Berry remarked.

Shab blushed once more at the complement. "T-thanks Berry."

"By the way, that was cool when you used Faint Attack, Dust," Roxy excitedly said. "The way you were able to throw in that sneak attack was awesome!"

"Awesome indeed," Cobra added. "Though...I never knew Absol could use Faint Attack."

"Me neither," Dust commented. "Never practiced the move before, and I never saw my Mother use the attack either."

"It just happened, didn't it?" Berry asked.

Dust nodded.

"That's what happens to me too when I suddenly use a new move. Something just clicks, and suddenly I'm using a move I've never used before," Berry informed. "It's kind of different than with a TM, because I had to practice the move with a TM, but with my other moves, it's as if I had inherited knowledge of those moves."

"That tends to happen when you learn new moves naturally," Slash informed when she walked up to them, glaring at Cobra for a second, to which the Seviper happily glared back. "When you learn new moves naturally, your body and mind will feel like they have known those moves ever since you were born. Some moves could only be learned by being born with them, likely an inheritance from one or both of your parents."

"Interesting," Dust noted. "Haven't really thought of that. I know my Mother never used Faint Attack, so that might mean I've inherited the move from my Father. Well I guess that's the first clue, whoever he was, he was a Pokemon who can use Faint Attack."

"1000 Poke to bet that Dust's father is a Persian," Swiper said to Caper in the background.

"You are on. And I bet his father is a Weavile" Caper remarked.

"What if you're both wrong?" Ivy asked. "I'm gonna bet that his father is a Zoroark."

"Hey, you shouldn't be making bets of who Dust's father is, you should be a little more sensitive," Tippi spoke up.

"Thank you for the concern, Tippi, but it's fine. In fact, I've been curious about who my father is too," Dust remarked before walking up to Caper, Swiper, and Ivy. "Tell you what, I'll take part in that bet. If I had to guess, I'd say my father would be...Umbreon."

"I'll take on that bet! But we need a better prize than a measly 1000 Poke. We could make more than that with my Pay Day move," Jessie spoke up.

"What do you suggest then?" Ivy asked.

"Maybe the winner has to have all those who joined in the bet have to buy the loser something good, like an expensive meal, or an expensive item," Caper stated.

"Oooh, I like that," Swiper agreed.

"Then if that is the prize, I will guess the father is a Purugly!" Jessie stated. Everyone just looked at her, even Dust was pretty doubtful of that one. "What? I can see Eclipse being with a Purugly. There's a good chance I could be right about Eclipse."

"Or you can just ask her yourself, even though it's really none of your business," A new voice spoke up.

Everyone turned to see the newcomer and all jumped back at seeing Eclipse standing by the doorway. Dust recognized that expression, knowing full well that he would get an earful from her later.

"M-mother, what a pleasant surprise," Dust stammered. "I can assure you they were only joking-"

A quick glare from Eclipse was enough to cut Dust off.

"Eclipse! What can we do for you?" Cobra and Slash asked at the same time.

Berry and Shab looked at Eclipse, it was their first time seeing her up close like this. She was definitely bigger and taller than Dust, and she gave out a much heavier pressure than he did. Though Berry could see the resemblance between them.

"I wish to speak with Dust, alone," Eclipse calmly stated, though her tone suggested otherwise.

Dust gulped, remembering all too well his past experiences of him being in trouble.

"Are you… going to be okay, Dust?" Berry asked quietly and in concern for her partner.

Dust put on a fake smile, hoping not to worry Berry too much. "Not to worry, Berry. I'm sure my mother just wishes to have some private time with me. It has been over two months since I saw her."

Berry just gave Dust a concerned look, but she wasn't going to step in the way of a mother and son's private talk, especially when the mother was a Master Rank Crusader.

"We'll be here if you need us," Shab stated.

Eclipse nudged her head to the door, looking at Dust. Berry and Shab gave Dust one last look before the two Absol headed out the door. Eclipse led Dust down the corridor, heading into another door. This door led into an empty warehouse. There were no other Pokemon around. After making sure it was just them two, Eclipse looked at Dust, giving the young Absol much anxiety, unsure of what is to come next.

"That partner of yours, she seems rather interesting," Eclipse finally spoke up. "So what is she, your fifth or sixth partner?"

Dust blinked at the question.

"Come now, Dust, you and I both know how fast you go through partners," Eclipse reminded.

Dust shook his head, now understanding what his mother meant. "Sorry, mother, but you got it all wrong. Berry isn't my fifth or sixth partner."

"How many partners did you go through? It's only been two months," Eclipse replied.

Dust chuckled a bit before answering. "None mother. Berry is my first partner since I've come to Unity Guild."

Eclipse stared at her son, looking at him as if she didn't believe him or he just told her that he went into the Ultimate Mystery Dungeon and defeated the strongest wild Pokemon there.

"... No, really, how many partners did you go through?" Eclipse asked again.

"None, really. Me and Berry have been a team since the beginning," Dust reassured. "I know it seems hard to believe, trust me. I was sure after our first mission together, she would want to change partners, but she decided to stick with me. And well, since then we've been Team Night Tide."

Eclipse started to move around, trying to wrap her head around the fact that Dust managed to keep the first partner he had in the Unity Guild. It suddenly felt like the world had gone topsy turvy for Eclipse. She was sure he would have at least gone through three partners on his first week.

"You're serious? That little Goomy stuck with you since the beginning? Not once did your… quirkiness and… thirst for knowledge chased her away from you like it did with all the partners you had in the Olympus Guild?" Eclipse questioned, still trying to wrap her mind around that fact.

"Again mother, I know it's hard to believe, but despite the many mistakes I made, how often I would give her reason to leave, she always chose to stay. And she always helped me learn from my mistakes. We've been through a lot together, and just as she wouldn't leave me, I also won't leave her. She's not only my partner, but my friend," Dust explained, never once taking his eyes off Eclipse's.

"That Berry Goomy must be really something if she was willing to stick with you like that…" Eclipse muttered.

"I mean if you really have trouble believing me, you could ask Chihiro, or even Berry herself," Dust confidently stated.

"No need, I'm still having trouble wrapping my head around it, but...I believe it." Eclipse smiled, but then something came to mind. "So, what that Mawile said earlier, during your introduction, were they all true?"

Dust had a feeling this would be brought up, especially after hearing her reaction from the first time Patricia had made their introduction. "Like I said, me and Berry have been through a lot. We've had some crazy adventures lately."

Eclipse looked at Dust in his mismatched eyes. "Did you actually… almost die THREE TIMES!? You've only been gone for two months, Dust, how did you almost die THREE TIMES!? Did you go into super strong dungeons just to prove you could be a Gold Rank or something!?"

"Not exactly, and technically it wasn't three, but four times. But I don't think the announcer even knew about mine and Berry's first mission in the Dusk Forest Dungeon…" Dust paused, seeing that he certainly wasn't helping his case as Eclipse looked like she was ready to tear Dust a new one, and then he would almost die a _fifth t_ime. "What I mean is...each of those times where I was cutting it really close, none of them had to do with me wanting to gain Gold Rank. The first was an accident, the second was a rescue mission involving an outlaw, and the third...Well it started out as a Special Invitation mission, but turned out to be a trap."

Eclipse continued to glare at Dust, who expected to receive a punishment any moment now, until she closed her eyes and sighed. "You've always had a knack for attracting trouble. Whether you go looking for it, or it comes looking for you."

"...It can't really be helped, mother. I know of my history, but I'm a Crusader now, whether I want to or not, trouble will always be there," Dust explained.

"Dust…" Eclipse looked at Dust. "You have really grown since you came to the Unity Guild. The way you battled was nothing like how you did before, you weren't so helpless or easily distracted in that battle like I expected you to be. You worked with your partner and other teammate wonderfully until the end. You've done missions that allowed you to participate in this rank up tournament in the first place. The fact you're not backing down from this also speaks volumes of how much you've grown since you left the Olympus Guild. I… will admit, I didn't expect you to be able to survive in the Unity Guild for long, by that I mean I expected them to want to kick you out as soon as possible. But look at you now, I could hardly tell you were that same Absol who couldn't even finish one easy mission without getting distracted or put in a hapless situation, like with the Shroomish."

Dust started to blush slightly. "Heh, yeah, seems so long ago. I've been through a lot lately, and Berry is always there to help me, especially when I tend to lose focus. I'm still trying to better understand things around me, but I promise mother, that I've been doing okay so far."

Eclipse nodded, before she suddenly gave a sickly sweet grin, the type of grin Dust only ever saw when Eclipse was about to say something that would put him in hot water.

"So… I've heard you and your partner Berry had quite the reputation at the Unity Guild. I also heard you were the Absol who came back to life… care to explain?" Eclipse asked, still giving a sickly sweet grin.

Dust chuckled nervously, knowing there was no way to avoid it. So, starting from the beginning, Dust shared with his mother of all the adventures, the dangers, the many strange days he's had so far since coming to Unity Guild. Dust made sure not to mention meeting with Giratina, however, as he didn't want Eclipse to completely freak out on him. He also didn't mention Cliff or the fact he found and brought back her egg by accident, as he didn't want Eclipse to freak out in a different way.

"You really have been through a lot. I also never knew a Goomy's goo could become poisonous if they grew up with a family of Wooper and Quagsire," Eclipse noted.

"I was just as surprised as you are," Dust added. "I've done some research lately on her slime, and there are so many things I still don't understand. It feels as though just as I am making progress, something new pops up, causing more research that needs to be done."

Eclipse was shocked when Dust didn't say anymore after that. She had expected him to go on a long rant like he usually did whenever he got excited about something, but he just said what he needed to say and stopped.

"I'm surprised, Dust, you actually didn't go off on a rant that I would have to stop you from after a while," Eclipse complimented. "What else have you been learning from this guild? This is a miracle in the making!"

Dust blushed once more at the compliment, but then realized something. _Huh, to think I didn't go on one of my rants… _

"Well my team has been working hard, and even though it may seem slim, I do hope to win this tournament and hopefully obtain the Gold Rank," Dust confidently said.

Before Eclipse was doubtful of Dust's skills, and had he told her that before she witnessed his match and later learning about his recent adventures, she would've continued to doubt her son. But now, seeing how confident Dust was, Eclipse could only feel pride in her son.

"Who knows, maybe your team _can _gain Gold Rank after this," Eclipse replied. "But remember, even if you lose, or even if you don't become Gold Rank after this tournament, remember how far you've come since leaving Olympus Guild. You've grown more in the Unity Guild than you ever did in the Olympus Guild."

Dust smiled at his mother. "Thank you, Mother."

Eclipse then went and hugged Dust, catching him off guard. It reminded him of the last time he saw his mother, just before having to leave his old guild. But unlike last time, where he felt sad, this time he felt joy as he hugged his mother back. After a few seconds, the two Absol let go of each other, both of them smiling at one another.

"Now I should let you get back to your team. Just promise me no other surprises. I don't want to have to find out from another random Pokemon that you almost died, or you experimented on someone, or even became a father," Eclipse told Dust.

Dust gave a nervous chuckle at hearing that last part. "Right, no more surprises. I'll make sure to let you know if anything crazy happens."

"So, it seems that you not only kept a partner, but made a new team member as well," Eclipse remarked. "That Feebas that's on Berry's head I mean. I could tell that he's a wild Pokemon turned civilized."

"Really? How?" Dust asked, surprised by Eclipse's comment.

"When you've worked as a Crusader as long as I have, it becomes easier to tell the difference between a born civilized Pokemon and a wild Pokemon turned civilized. It's not really something I can explain, it's just something you learn as you go on with your career as a Crusader," Eclipse answered. "Though since your third member is a Feebas, I do wish you luck on your upcoming matches. They're going to get tougher from here, and a Feebas isn't known to be super strong."

"I wouldn't doubt the Feebas too much, mother," Dust grinned. "Shab has shown more determination than any other fish Pokemon I've ever seen. It was because of him that we actually had a chance against our opponent. If it weren't for him, we would have most likely lost."

"Yeah, I could see that when I was watching the battle," The older Absol agreed. "Just be careful. Anyways, we should get you back to your team. I'd also like to say a few words to them, to Berry specifically."

"You're not going to reprimand her, are you?" Dust asked, worried what Eclipse might say to Berry.

"I just want to talk to her," Eclipse answered back before she walked out of the warehouse room. "Come along, son. You don't want to stay in this stuffy warehouse for too long, or the dust will get to you… Dust."

"...Have you been speaking with Chihiro lately?" Dust asked as he followed after Eclipse.

"Maybe?" Eclipse frowned. "She kept telling puns during the battle, it was hard to ignore. And that one was an easy one."

"You'd be surprised by how often she uses that pun," Dust chuckled.

"Oh I'm sure." Eclipse rolled her eyes. "Now come on, let's go."

Dust nodded as he continued to follow after his mother. Despite the surprise visit from Eclipse, it was one that Dust was grateful for.

* * *

**FoxyKhai0209****: DarkFoxKit:** So… uh… TM is alive, don't ask what happened in the AN…. erm, anyways… Yes, we decided to name them after Team Rocket, because we thought it was funny. Also, I once was a Meowth with a Pikachu partner in Explorers of Time and called them Team Rocket, so it was also a tribute to that.

Yeah. Well, let us know if we did your OC team any good. We took some creative liberties with them since it made the battle easier than being restricted to guidelines.

**Zombif18****: Traveling Master: *Confused by what you meant. Looks at chapter and sees the mistake we made. Slap self on forehead* **Okay...Thank you for pointing that out. And now I can't get the image of a concussion stand out of my head. I'm still laughing at the thought.

**Emerald Hunter****: DarkFoxKit:** Yes, yes we did. Thank you for pointing that out.

**Marble Pearl****: Chihiro: **That's the whole point of puns, doesn't matter if they are good, bad, awful or great. Once in a while, there's always a _Pearl_ among them!

**Ruby Comet****: DarkFoxKit:** I think this chapter answered your question as to who the team leader was. Team Aura Force was made by someone else though. Personally I think one Lucario is enough in a story, but eh, I figured we could just use the team for one of the rounds in the tournament. And you're not really spoiling it, Team Aura Force is kinda obvious who the leader would likely be. I mean what other Pokemon is known for using aura, right?

**Guest17****: Traveling Master: *I start walking closer to you* **I can't write the crap out of this review without getting closer. XD Oh I was waiting for someone to get the reference! And only the name, Dio is the reference. Dio the Persian is completely different from _that_ Dio.

**DarkFoxKit:** I know absolutely nothing about that. I had my own reasons for going along with this, and it had nothing to do with Jojo. This is all on TM.

**Traveling Master: **And I am not ashamed of it!

**Guest #1****: DarkFoxKit:** I don't think they're permanent in the anime, they just don't show the Pokemon holding the Everstone, but I think they are. Likely, for example, Dawn put it in Piplup's fur or something, so the animators don't have to keep drawing it on Piplup. They never said it was permanent, I don't think.

I can't tell if you're happy that Dust isn't planned to be paired right now or not. It looks like you are though. If that's the case, then why? Do you prefer Dust to remain single or something?

**Traveling Master: **As I mentioned before, even I, the one who created Dust so long ago, have no idea what his future relationship might be like.

**DarkFoxKit:** Doesn't mean it's impossible though. But anyways… Legendary Pokemon don't usually run guilds. It's… possible, I will say, but incredibly unlikely. Legendary Pokemon are more like gods in these stories. Guilds are more like the military in this world.

Kind of a big jump to conclusions with saying the Charizard might be Berry's father. ^^'

**Greatest Guy****: Traveling Master: **Well, as you saw in this chapter, Eclipse has a lot of mixed feelings concerning her son.

**Chihiro: **I agree wholeheartedly. It's been a Ma_wile_ since I've seen a great match. And I'm sure Eclipse was _Absol_utely impressed with her son's performance. Though little Cliff was worried at first, I mean, for a whole week we were left off with a _Cliff_hanger, so it's glad to finally see Team Night Tide's first match.

**Traveling Master: **...At this point, I think there's no stopping Chihiro or her puns.

**Guest #2****: DarkFoxKit:** Hehehe. ***Is rubbing her paws evilly*** Hahahahaha! Berry is so going to hate me in the future. :3 You've hit the mark on everything you said about Sliggoo, including the civilized ones. Yeah, they can tell the difference, but the blindness is going to be a pretty big pain to deal with, well it's not complete blindness, but yeah, it would be harder to see with those deteriorated eyes.

Also, thank you very much. I'm glad you were able to see why Berry didn't want to evolve. I was worried that TM and I didn't make it very clear with how many people kept asking.

**Traveling Master: **The game I was talking about was Xenoblade Chronicles. DF actually introduced me to the game, and I've been enjoying it ever since. And yeah, I think almost every RPG game has that annoying quality about sidequests. But our gamer brain keeps yelling at us that we must complete it!

**DarkFoxKit:** This is why I usually stop playing when I see the battery is low. Also, just cause I'm curious, if you can remember what it was, what was that rare Pokemon?

**Jewel moonstone****: Traveling Master: **Oh, we got the heat. We got big plans for the heat. YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT KIND OF HEAT WE HAVE IN STORE FOR YOU!

**DarkFoxKit:** I don't know what to say about the Big Hero 6 thing. Didn't watch the series myself. If you have subjects you want to talk about that has nothing to do with the story or characters, maybe you should PM us? I don't think you should share a lot of personal information on a public review.

**lonleyboi69****: DarkFoxKit: **They're not literally Team Rocket, they're just based off of them. And… heh… you are going to love their intro.

**Lunar Sunlight****: Traveling Master: **Well when we first introduced Pikachu and Meowth, it was just to show the whole mission board. We didn't really plan much for them back then. But, when we came to the tournament, we recalled how we used them before, and thought of putting them on a team. And that's when the funny thought of having their team name be Team Rocket came to mind, since in the show Team Rocket was always hunting Pikachu, and Meowth was always there. As for their names, as DF said earlier, they are just based off of them.

**Crystal Daisy****: DarkFoxKit:** Yeah, that was the point. The Wobbuffet was a funny joke we wanted to keep around. XD Even in Mystery Dungeon the Wobbuffet was odd.

**Star Aries****: Traveling Master: **Oh yes, Eclipse does hold some kind of resentment towards Dust's father. Dust has mentioned before about being curious as to who his father was, and he has guessed that his father is the cause of his right blue eye. But besides that, he doesn't know much else, and Eclipse is in no rush to reveal anything about the father. But don't worry, in the future I'm sure we will tackle Dust's father, can't say when, but it will come eventually.

**Al: *Walks back in with more cake*** So… uh… why was I running?

**DarkFoxKit: **AL!?

**Al: **Yes?...Also...what happened to him? ***Al points at TM, seeing how his body was pale, almost half dead.***

**DarkFoxKit: *Drops the gun in horror*** SOMEBODY CALL NURSE CHANSEY! Wait… how was he able to talk to the Reviews so easily?

***The TM who had been talking suddenly turned into Mew***

**Mew: *giggles*** Just thought you'd like some help~

**DarkFoxKit: **… ***Faints***


	28. Chapter 28: Surviving the Tournament

**DarkFoxKit: *crosses out some names on a list*** These people are all incompetent! That's 500 dollars down the drain! ***Slashes up the list in a fit of anger***

**Dust: *Was nodding while sitting next to her* **Oh I agree. They should've put more effort into helping more, instead of what they came up with.

**Traveling Master: *I was rather surprised seeing DF and Dust agreeing with one another, and that the former hadn't attacked Dust yet***

**DarkFoxKit:** So, readers, let us inform you a bit on the situation. We won't say what exactly it is, because WE don't even know at this point! I had been to the hospital several times these past few weeks now. I've been diagnosed with something very serious, and the treatment I was told to get would cause ill side effects on the long term. Which I rather not have to deal with in the future. However, the one who diagnosed me was a 500 dollar specialist who didn't do crap to really tell what it was exactly, he only told me what he saw, and because he's an expert, he already knows what it is apparently. Even though what it is doesn't add up at all to me, because I never did anything that could've possibly caused it. So now I'm in a situation where I don't know what to do or what treatment to get, and because of this, it's been difficult to focus on writing at the moment.

**Traveling Master: **We are grateful for all the comments you left behind during our last announcement, and are grateful for your patience. We did manage to finish another chapter, which is why we are updating this story, but just as we mentioned before, Crusaders of Dusk may still go on temporary hiatus. We truly do love this story and wish to continue, but when it comes to one's health, that comes first. We are hoping for the best, and that DF won't have to go through this for much longer.

**DarkFoxKit:** I will say, this is the very short and simple version I'm giving you readers. If you want the full story, you'll have to PM me for that. There's a lot more going on than what I was ranting about. If anyone knows anything medical, or knows someone who does, I would appreciate having some kind of second opinion that won't cost me an arm and a leg to get.

**Traveling Master: **Any help would be appreciated. But for now, we hope you enjoy this chapter, and we thank you for sticking with us this far, for enjoying the story, and for being patient with us.

**DarkFoxKit:** We will try to keep going despite these hard and scary times, just don't expect fast updates right now, okay?

* * *

**Chapter 28: Surviving the Tournament**

Eclipse and Dust came back into the waiting room of the Unity Guild's team. Everyone looked at the two Absol anxiously, especially Berry and Shab.

Eclipse walked up to Berry, who had Shab on her head again.

"Thank you for letting me have some time to speak with my son," Eclipse said before turning her attention to Berry. "Now there's just one last thing I need to take care of."

Berry looked at Eclipse stiffly, trying not to appear as nervous as she felt, though her body was sweating quite a bit. Shab frowned a little.

"Dust had told me everything that has happened since you two had become partners, of the many times my son's life was put in danger, how he had almost died more than once. Is everything he said true? Especially his first time when he was in a coma?" Eclipse questioned Berry, watching her closely.

"Mother I already-" Dust tried to explain to Eclipse, only for her to cut him off with a glare. She then returned her gaze back to Berry.

Berry tried her best not to stutter her words, she assumed that Dust told Eclipse how she almost accidentally killed him when her goo poisoned him. "Y-yes… it's true… B-but I promise I took responsibility for what happened and personally went to get him a cure."

Eclipse stared at Berry for a moment, the others in the room all watching and waiting to see her reaction.

"From what I've heard, you did something so irresponsible, so idiotic that by all means, you should have your title as a Crusader revoked! You had disobeyed your Guild Master, included others in your lies and risked your life in a dangerous Dungeon!" Eclipse yelled, causing Berry to flinch. But then Eclipse's expression softened as she gave a small smile. "And because of all that, you saved the life of my son, and I am forever grateful for what you have done."

Everyone looked at Eclipse in shock, they thought for sure she was going to keep reprimanding Berry, until she showed her gratitude at the end, it caught many off guard, especially Berry herself. Berry was so caught off guard that her body slumped down into her own pile of sweat goo. Shab looked down at Berry in concern.

"Berry?" The Feebas questioned in concern.

Eclipse chuckled a bit before she spoke up. "I understand that you and my son have been through a lot. I was able to see it during your battle, and I was surprised when Dust told me that you two had remained as partners since the beginning," Eclipsed paused for a moment as she noticed the Everstone that was tied around Berry's neck. She looked at Berry, deep in thought before finally continuing. "I may not know your past before joining the guild, but I can tell that you have grown a lot. But there will still be many challenges in the future that you may come across, difficult decisions you will have to make. But as long as you remember who you are and what you stand for, you'll be able to face any challenge, any difficulties or _changes_ that will come your way."

Berry looked up at Eclipse, returning her body to normal. "Oh, uh… t-thank you, M-Mrs. Eclipse."

"Eclipse is just fine, calling one Mrs makes one feel a bit old," Eclipse smiled.

"But mother, aren't you-" Dust was about to say Eclipse's age, only for her to give him another glare. "Right, nevermind."

Eclipse sighed before she addressed Dust and Berry. "Congratulations on your first match. I look forward to seeing your future matches. And good luck to you all, but something tells me you are not going to really need it. You all seem very skilled, and I'm curious to see how your matches will go too."

Eclipse looked at Dust before heading towards the exit. As soon as she left the room, everyone gave a sigh of relief.

"That was…" Ivy began.

"Intense…" Talon finished, ruffling his feathers.

"Yeah, she tends to be like that," Dust commented. "Even now, despite being her son, I still haven't gotten used to her pressure."

"I think Berry got the worst of it though…" Tippi remarked.

Berry looked to be frozen on the spot. Shab began to hop on her head, trying to snap her out of it.

"Actually, I think Mother might like Berry," Dust remarked before laughing a bit. "Oh, could you imagine how she would react if you hadn't saved me, Berry? If you guys thought she was intense now...I shudder to think of what she would have done."

"I've gotta find out how she puts out such pressure like that, it's gotta be more than just her ability…" Jessie muttered.

"Woooobbefett!" Wobbeffet remarked.

"Uh… Berry? Are you going to be okay?" Roxy asked in concern to the Goomy.

"I hope she'll be okay." Shab frowned.

Dust noticed how stressed Berry was and realized his recent comment might have only made things worse. "But it's okay now! Mother understands what you did and like she said, she's grateful for what you've done. She actually likes you! That's a good thing, you are on her good side now! Trust me, it's way better than being on her bad side."

"She might need some water," Cobra suggested.

"Does anyone here have a Water move?" Caper asked.

James looked at Jessie. "Didn't you say you wanted to learn how to use Bubblebeam at one point?"

Jessie crossed her arms and turned her head away. "It didn't work out."

"Berry! Please snap out of it!" Shab called before he took a deep breath, then jumped up a little high before trying to use some kind of move on Berry. Instead of Ice Beam, which Dust was afraid Shab would do in a desperate attempt to snap Berry out of it, splutter of what appeared to be a possible water move came out of the Feebas's mouth.

The sprinkles of water were, thankfully, all Berry needed to snap out of her frozen state.

"Wah!? What's happening!? I didn't almost endanger your son on purpose! I… uh… she's gone?" Berry blinked.

"Oh my sweet Berry! Are you alright?" Shab asked.

Berry looked at Shab for a moment, who had landed in front of her. "I… I'm a little shaken up, but I should be alright."

"Did the Feebas just use some kind of Water move?" Swiper asked. "Did he have a Water move?"

"Not that I know of," Caper answered.

"Interesting," Dust noted. "While normally Feebas only have a limited amount of moves they could use, we did talk about teaching Shab a Water type move. I wasn't expecting him to be able to even make any form of water this early. You might actually be able to learn a new Water move before our next match."

"He likely learned it through sheer determination to help Berry," Slash noted.

"You used a Water move to help me?" Berry asked Shab in surprise.

"I… wouldn't say it's an actual move, more like a sprinkler, but since it helped you then I'm happy that I was able to use it at all." Shab smiled.

Berry gave Shab a smile of her own. "Thanks for that, Shab."

Shab started to blush. "A-anything for you, Berry."

"And sorry about my Mother. As you saw earlier, she can be very intimidating," Dust apologized. "But like I said, I think she is rather fond of you."

"Really? It was rather difficult to tell if she liked me or not," Berry replied. "If that's her good side, I would hate to see what her bad side is like…"

"I think we all do," Talon agreed.

Dust shuddered, thinking of the many times he was on Eclipse's bad side. "It's not pretty, I can tell you that much."

* * *

After Berry's encounter with Eclipse, Dust decided to take Berry and Shab out to look around the tournament's stands. It would do Berry some good to relax after her first conversation with his mother, and he also hoped that after they relax, they could train Shab a little bit on using a Water move effectively. Dust also wanted to see some of the upcoming matches, at least the ones where his fellow guildmates were a part of. But Dust and his team were the only ones from Unity Guild to have fought so far, so he didn't mind looking around for a bit.

There was a lot of stuff to look at. There were little gift shops for the tourists to buy for during their visit in the tournament. There were also things in the gift shop teams could buy to use as items for battle as well, like orbs and seeds. There were a lot of different stands selling different kinds of food. Many of them smelled wonderfully to Dust, he could also hear the sizzling sound of food being cooked. There was also a stand that served fresh squeezed berry juices.

"It's like the rank up tournament is also a tourist trap," Berry remarked as she looked around from Dust's back.

"There's so many things we could do here!" Shab smiled excitedly. "Where to first?"

"Hard to say," Dust remarked. "Maybe we can get some drinks, I don't think eating in the middle of a tournament would benefit us much, especially if one of us got an upset stomach during one of our matches."

"It's still important that we eat though, fighting on an empty stomach would weaken us," Berry pointed out. "We could, however, eat light, so we don't get stomach cramps in the middle of battle."

Dust nodded as he surveyed the stands nearby. While he was fine with eating whatever food they had to offer, Dust knew that Berry was sensitive when it came to meat and recalled what happened when Al forced fed her some meat. He spotted a stand that seemed like they mostly made berry related food and headed towards there.

"Hello, welcome to our stand," A Cacnea greeted. "We specialize in berry related dishes or drinks. How may I help you today?"

Dust looked at the sign, trying to decide what to get. Without looking back, he called out to Berry and Shab. "What looks good to you? I'm thinking maybe the...Desert Flower. Looks rather good."

"Hmm… I might get the Pinap and Pecha Berry salad," Berry said.

"I"ll get whatever Berry's getting," Shab replied.

"Alright, one Desert Flower and two Pinap and Pecha Berry salad, coming right up!" Cacnea happily exclaimed.

Cacnea went to the back to get their orders ready as a Cacturne walked up to them.

"Ah, you are Team Night Tide, right?" Cacturne asked.

Dust nodded before replying. "That is correct."

"I must say, your match was quite impressive," The Cacturne remarked.

"Thank you, we did our best," Dust then noticed something a bit strange about the way the Cacturne spoke. "I'm sorry, but the way you speak, it's rather interesting. I haven't heard anything like that before."

"Oh, you mean my accent? Well we come from a pretty far place. Back home we live more in a desert like area," Cacturne explained.

"Then what brings you all the way here?" Dust asked.

"For the tournament, of course. In case you haven't noticed, there are all kinds of Pokemon here. Many come and travel for the sake of entertainment. And while all the participating fighters provide such entertainment, we help by providing other necessities, such as foods, items, and such," Cacturne explained. "Me and my family come every few months, and it seems we were rather lucky to come to today's tournament. I've never seen this many Pokemon attend before...despite what happened before."

Berry frowned a little at that ominous comment. "What do you mean by 'despite what happened before'?"

"Well...I've been doing this job for some time now, and I noticed some strange things happening from time to time," Cacturne explained. "Pokemon would go missing, and you'd think they would shut down the tournament or something, but then days later they would show up. Now you wouldn't think that too strange, maybe they just left town or something. But I remember the last time I was here, I ran into one of those Pokemon who went missing."

"Did they say anything about why they were 'missing'?" Shab asked curiously. "Pokemon don't just 'go missing' then come back as if nothing happened."

"Well it doesn't help that even they don't remember what happened. But that's not the worse part," Cacturne then leaned real close so he could whisper. "The worst part was their eyes. One look and you can tell that there's hardly any life in them. It's like they're an empty shell, a former shadow of themselves."

Berry shivered at that, it sounded like something straight out of a horror story. "Does that… actually happen? Is it still happening? Why has nobody made a report about this? Or do any investigation?"

"Most Pokemon want to pretend nothing is wrong. The missing Pokemon came back, and surely they would recover from whatever was ailing them, why cause inconvenience and potential panic and unease among the tourist over something that would fix itself eventually? That's likely the mindset most Pokemon have about it," Cacturne replied with a shrug.

"I can understand why most would pretend nothing is wrong. But still, to act as though nothing bad is happening? That's like ignoring a very stressed Electrode that's on the verge of exploding. It may not explode now, but eventually, it will go off," Dust commented.

Cacturne shrugged. "That may be, but until they figure out what's going on, others will just keep on treating everything as though it's normal. I suggest you keep your eyes open, especially with this many Pokemon attending today's tournament."

Dust was about to inquire more from the Cacturne, but then the Cacnea caught his attention by bringing their meal, each in a boxed container. "Sorry about the wait, hope you enjoy."

"Uh...Thank you," Dust grabbed the boxes and placed them in his bag. "Cacturne, anything else we should know?"

"Just don't go to the arena when it's empty," Cacturne said. "Some say they would hear something creepy when there's nobody else there."

Berry shivered again. _It definitely sounds like something out of a horror story!_

"We'll be sure to keep that in mind then," Shab remarked.

Though Dust was more intrigued than scared.

* * *

After their meal, Dust decided to take them to the arena, where another battle was taking place. He was looking for a seat they could sit on to watch the fight. It took a minute, but Dust was able to find three empty seats for him, Berry and Shab. After taking their seats, Dust took out the boxed containers and after figuring out which one went to who, handed them to Berry and Shab. When Dust turned his attention to the arena, he was expecting to at least see another team from the Unity Guild fighting, but so far it seems only his team were the first ones to fight from the guild.

Berry and Shab were watching the battle between two unfamiliar teams, though Berry was intrigued by some of the strategy or moves these Pokemon would make. She also wanted to keep in mind what their strategy was like in case they would have to battle against them as well.

Then, finally, Patricia the announcer Mawile, came on the stage to announce the next team that would be battling. "We have Team Ice Climbers from the Frosty Guild against Team Rocket from the Unity Guild!"

Patricia then went on to introduce each member of Team Ice Climbers. Dust recognized the two electric Pokemon, Plusle and Minum, but the third member is what caught his attention. He could tell that it was some sort of Sandshrew, but the ones he has seen before had a sandy color to them. Dust started wondering if this Sandshrew was perhaps a shiny, but even then, this one looked too different from a regular one, more than just a color.

"Oh, interesting," Berry remarked. "I've never seen a Sandshrew like that one before."

"I believe it is a Sandshrew not of this climate or region," Shab informed. "That's why it's different from most Sandshrew you're used to seeing around here."

"So it's kinda like with Sunny and Twilight," Berry realized.

"Never was expecting to see a different kind of Sandshrew. Makes me wonder what other kinds of Pokemon we will be seeing," Dust noted.

Though they could already see Team Ice Climbers, they didn't see Team Rocket anywhere.

"Where are Team Rocket…? They didn't go out for some food and didn't realize it was their turn, did they?" Berry asked in concern.

"I hope not," Dust agreed.

"And now, introducing-" Patricia started, but then suddenly her mike was cut off.

Dust saw that Patricia was saying something, even tapping her microphone, but no noise could be heard. Suddenly, from the far end of the arena's entrance, heavy smoke started coming from within. Dust noticed some strange music started playing too, though he couldn't tell where the source was coming from.

Everyone began looking around in surprise and curiosity. Then suddenly, the lights around them dimmed. Then a spotlight suddenly shined down on a Meowth. "Are you prepared for trouble?~"

Then another spotlight shined on a Pikachu. "And are you ready to make it double?"

"To protect the world from devastation," Jessie began.

"To unite all Pokemon within our nation," James added.

"To denounce the evils of truth and love," Jessie continued.

"To extend our reach to the stars above!" James shouted.

"Jessie!" Jessie introduced.

"James!" James followed after.

Then Team Rocket surprised everyone by somehow leaping high into the air, the spot lights still following after them. Despite the heavy smoke, for a moment, Dust saw some sort of jump pad where Team Rocket was previously at.

While in the air, Jessie continued her line. "Team Rocket blast off at the speed of light!"

The two of them landed gracefully on the arena, with James adding another line. "Surrender now or prepare to fight!"

Then Wobbuffet suddenly appeared behind them, as if he teleported himself there. "Woooobbuffet!"

The music stopped, the lights came back on, the spotlights vanished, and the smoke vanished as well.

"We totally nailed it!" Jessie grinned.

"All those practices finally paid off!" James agreed.

"Wobbuffet!" Wobbuffet nodded.

All the audience were sweatdropping, and not seeming to know how to react. Patricia walked towards them while clapping her hands. "That was nice, very fancy, a great way to introduce yourselves to everyone."

Then when Patricia got in close, she gave a warning hiss. "But don't ever do that again. This isn't a circus for you to go showing off acrobatics and hijacking the stage lights."

James and Wobbuffet flinched by Patricia's sudden warning. Team Rocket all nodded.

"She seemed so sweet," James whispered.

"Wobbu," Wobbuffett nodded.

"Hmph, some Pokemon just don't understand true art," Jessie whispered back.

"Now then!" Patricia spoke up on the microphone as though nothing was wrong, and she made her way back to the center of the stage. "It's time for the battle between Team Ice Climbers and Team Rocket to begin!"

As soon as the battle started, Plusle and Minun suddenly began to hop around, then put their tails together, creating blue electricity around them both, which also surrounded the icy Sandshrew.

"What are they doing?" Berry asked in surprise.

"It looks like they're using the move Helping Hand, which powers up their teammates," Dust explained.

James got down on all fours and ran at the Plusle and Minun quickly, leaving a silver streak of light behind him. The icy Sandshrew quickly stood in front of James, blocking his attack from his teammate. James ended up running into the icy Sandshrew, though the icy Sandshrew seemed to have taken the hit quite easily.

"Whoa, it looked like that Sandshrew barely felt that Quick Attack at all," Berry noted.

"This regional difference Sanshrew is not just an Ice type, but it's also part Steel type, so it resists Normal type moves like Quick Attack," Shab explained, before giving a proud smile that he was able to educate Berry on something she didn't know before.

"Remind me to pay a visit next time they are teaching you more about other Pokemon and their unique traits. I would love to learn more," Dust commented.

Jessie came in with her claws, intending to use Slash, however, the icy Sandshrew curled up into a ball and bounced up in front of the Meowth, making her claws hit his steel-like hide instead of his teammates. Jessie hissed as her claws dug into the steel-like hide. She and James backed off a bit.

"That Sandshrew is clearly their defensive wall," Jessie hissed.

"And it looks like they're still using Helping Hand to get stronger. If we don't interrupt them soon, they could take us out quickly," James warned.

"Well, they're not the only ones who can set up and have a wall to protect themselves with." Jessie smirked.

"Wobbuffet!" Wobbuffet nodded.

"That may be so, but there's only so much Wobbuffet could handle. We'll have to go for them at the same time, that way that Sandshrew would only be able to block one of us," James suggested.

"Then let's do it," Jessie stated.

The Pikachu and Meowth began running towards the other team again. Because the Sandshrew wasn't a Ground type, James was able to get a hit on it with his electric attack. Though instead of using an attacking move like Thunderbolt, James instead shot out jolts of electricity that sparked around the Sandshrew's body. The icy Sandshrew let out a yelp as his body went numb from paralysis. With the Sandshrew paralyzed, Jessie jumped at the Plusle and Minun. Both of them looked up in shock as Plusle quickly moved back just as Jessie brought down her claws. Her Slash attack ended up slashing the Minun's chest, though the Plusle barely dodged because it moved back a little.

Minun let out a hiss before it jumped at Jessie and began to nuzzle its blue cheeks on her furry cheeks. Jessie yelped as she felt sparks of electricity running through her body. Jessie soon felt numb as the Minun let go of her. She was paralyzed.

"Jessie!" James shouted out.

"Wobbuffet!" Wobbuffet yelled out to James, as he threw something towards the Pikachu.

James turned back in time to see that it was a Cheri Berry that Wobbuffet had thrown. So James jumped up and caught it between his teeth, making sure not to bite too hard on the berry. He rushed past the Sandshrew hoping to get to Jessie, only for the Plusle and Minun to jump in front of him, blocking his path. Sparks of electricity were flowing from each of the electric Pokemon, waiting for the other to make their next move.

Suddenly more electricity started pouring out from Minun and Plusle. Despite also being part electric, James knew that their attack would most likely do a lot more damage from all the Helping Hand they have done.

James didn't have much time to react and braced himself. However, to his confusion, only one Electro Ball slammed into him. It hurt quite a bit, but not as much as he thought it would if they had both attacked him at once. James still had the Cheri Berry in his mouth, but he noticed that only the Plusle was in front of him and not the Minun.

"Thanks," A rough voice said from behind him.

Looking back, the Pikachu saw the icy Sandshrew was standing back up and no longer appeared to be paralyzed with the Minun beside him.

"Did you see that?" Berry asked Dust and Shab. "That Minun used Agility while pretending to be using Electro Ball with her Plusle partner."

"That was a very clever tactic they used," Dust added. "Plusle are relatively more accustomed to being special attackers while Minun are more defensive. They most likely came up with this strategy to trick their opponent. Who knows what other strategies Team Ice Climber might have?"

"Team Rocket will need to have more tricks up their sleeves if they hope to get through this," Shab muttered.

James used Quick Attack to get around Plusle, who tried to stop him, but he went by too quickly. He managed to get to Jessie. "Here, Jessie, eat this Cheri Berry quickly."

James pushed the Cheri Berry into the Meowth's mouth.

"Even with your Quick Attack, we're still faster than you now," The Plusle remarked. "Thanks to my partner's Agility."

James looked at the Plusle. "Agility, huh? You know… you're not the only one who has a teammate with Agility."

"What?" Plusle frowned.

Jessie managed to swallow the Cheri Berry, and the paralysis wore off of her before she got back on her feet. "Shall we show them what we're made of, James?"

"We'll show them what happens when Team Rocket is ready to blast off, Jessie," James grinned.

Jessie got down on all fours as James began to run, Jessie following him. Both of their speeds started to pick up dramatically, to the point their bodies would disappear and reappear. Minun and Plusle began running as well, their own speeds picking up to match Team Rocket's. It was difficult for most of the audience to see what was going on, but they could see sparks of electricity exploding at times, giving them a vague idea of what was going on in the battle.

The battle went on for a full minute, each team clashing with one another, though barely visible. In a final moment, a huge spark erupted from the center of the arena as both Jessie and James clashed with the Plusle and Minun. The two teams are knocked back, landing on opposite sides of the arena, both combatants breathing heavily.

"This...isn't working...Jessie," James panted.

"I know... If it wasn't for that Helping Hand...we would've had the advantage," Jessie nodded.

"We've got them on the ropes now," Minun remarked.

"Shall we finish them off?" The Sandshrew asked.

Jessie frowned. "We still have our secret weapon. Perhaps now is the time to use it while we try to recover."

James nodded before turning to Wobbuffet. "Wobbuffet, think you could hold them off long enough for us to get our energy back?"

"Woooobbuffet!" Wobbuffet shouted as he saluted his teammates.

Jessie and James then went behind Wobbuffet as he held out his arms in a defensive manner. For a brief moment Wobbuffet's body gave a dim glow, before returning back to normal.

"You think that Pokemon is going to protect you?" Plusle laughed.

Minun began to use Agility again and the two of them started to come in close. Wobbuffet stood there as his body glowed red for a second. Then just as the Plusle and Minun came in for a hit, the Wobbuffet moved his body to make sure they hit him instead of his teammates. When they did hit Wobbuffet, they felt a sudden strong force that pushed both of them back several feet.

Sandshrew ran up and caught Plusle and Minun before they landed on the ground. "Careful guys, Wobbuffet are known for their tough defense. We gotta get past his defense if we want to get to his teammates!"

"Right!" Both Plusle and Minun nodded before hopping off Sandshrew.

The two electric Pokemon then ran to the opposite sides of Wobbuffet, making sure that he was in between them.

"You may be able to counter one of our attacks," Plusle stated.

"But we like to see you try to stop us while we attack from different positions," Minun added.

Before the Plusle and Minun could move, however, Wobbuffet suddenly started clapping his… arms together. A 'spotlight' suddenly shined down on Plusle and Minun. Plusle and Minun frowned before their bodies suddenly started doing Agility and Quick Attack, it was so unexpected they ended up hitting the Wobbuffet again, who used Counter on them again, throwing them back once more.

Jessie and James were munching on Oran Berries to recover their strength.

"Heh, looks like they're having a tough time getting through Wobbuffet," Jessie chuckled.

"I think I have an idea on how to win this, Jessie." James smiled.

Plusle and Minun stopped using their move, and tried to figure out what to do.

"So you two are now stuck with Agility and Quick Attack," Sanshrew sighed.

"We can't help it!" Minun replied.

"The moment we attack that Wobbuffet will be ready to counter again," Plusle nodded.

"We actually can use that to our advantage," Sandshrew said. "If that Wobbuffet knows Counter, there's a good chance he also knows Mirror Coat."

"Yeah? So what's your plan?" Minun asked.

"As soon as I attack, you two shortly follow with your attacks," Sandshrew answered.

"But he'll just use Counter against our attacks," Plusle remarked.

"Not unless he's using Mirror Coat," Sandshrew grinned.

Plusle and Minun realized what Sandshrew was planning and both nodded towards their icy teammate. Sandshrew looked at the Wobbuffet, then took a deep breath before blowing out ice and snow. Berry shivered from just looking at the Blizzard attack.

Wobbuffet's body glowed a rainbowish glow as the Blizzard hit him. Then Plusle and Minun came in with their own attack, which they slammed into Wobbuffet's still glowing body, pushing him back.

"Now!" James shouted.

James and Jessie jumped out from behind Wobbuffett while Plusle and Minun were close by. James shot out like a yellow missile and slammed into Plusle, which also slammed into Minun. With James pinning them down, Jessie was coming up from behind him, her claws sharp and piercing. James moved out of the way at the last second just in time for Jessie to use Slash on both Plusle and Minun, at point blank range, ensuring a double critical hit. Meanwhile, Wobbuffet's Mirror Coat activated, which blasted a much stronger Blizzard attack back at the Sandshrew. Sandshrew was shocked by Team Rocket's counter attack. He tried to curl up, hoping to protect himself from the more powerful Blizzard attack, but he was too late to defend as his body got blasted back far away.

Plusle and Minun were not moving, their bodies badly scratched up. Sandshrew wasn't moving either, Mirror Coat had done its job. Patricia came onto the arena to analyze the three team members of Team Ice Climbers before she made the announcement.

"Team Ice Climbers are all knocked out! Team Rocket is the winner!" The Mawile announced, making the crowd go wild as Chansey and Audino came onto the arena to take the unconscious team to the medic room.

"Aww yeah, we're the winners!" Jessie smiled.

"We really showed them what we are made of!" James cheered.

"Woooooooobbuffet!" Wobbuffett shouted as he picked up both James and Jessie, placing them on top of his head.

"That was really good thinking on their part," Dust noted as he saw Team Rocket wave to the audience. "They managed to timed their counter attack perfectly. I definitely wasn't expecting something like that from them."

"Yeah… that Wobbuffet is a good wall," Berry noted. "A good way to buy some time while damaging the opponent while they recover or some up with a strategy."

"You know, maybe we should recruit a Pokemon who can be our wall one day," Dust commented. "While we are good when it comes to attacking and strategizing, our defense is rather lacking."

"We don't have anyone who's defensive on our team though," Berry remarked.

"Not yet anyways," Shab added.

"Yeah, but that's probably going to bite us later in the tournament," Berry noted.

"Then we just gotta do our best to make up for our weakness," Dust replied.

* * *

During the next few days, Dust, Berry, and Shab were put into more rounds against other Pokemon teams. As the teams were defeated, they had to battle more rounds each day due to the numbers of participants declining with each defeat. Dust was good at hitting hard and being fast. Berry was good at strategizing for them while hitting hard from Dust's back with her Dragon Breath and Water Pulse. Now that she was able to summon the Rain, Shab could use his weaker Water Pulse that would get stronger in the rain, as well as combine with Berry's Water Pulse. Whenever they had to face against a Fairy type, they were easily dealt with with Dust's Iron Tail and Berry's Sludge Bomb.

Team Night Tide were doing rather well. The other teams, while they fought hard, weren't as powerful as Team Aura Force for them. Things were looking promising for Team Night Tide as they were moving up in the ranks of the tournament. However, they also knew it was only a matter of time before they would battle with someone they would likely lose again, like Team Crimson Raiders, or Team Destruct. Dust told Berry and Shab they would just have to hope they don't end up facing either one before they get the chance to show they deserve to be Gold Rank.

Team Night Tide were currently sitting with the audience, having already finished their rounds for the evening. This battle was the last battle for the day, and they decided to watch it to try to strategize for their next battle. The match itself was from the Volcanic Ash guild and another guild. The team from Volcanic Ash won pretty easily.

"We've been pretty lucky so far, not having to face anyone we know, or a team that had been harder than Team Aura Force," Shab remarked after watching the match.

"Yeah…" Berry frowned a little. "Luck will only get us so far though."

"That may be so, but you have to admit that we have been improving. Before we only had battled each other, but now we are getting the hang of battling other civilized Pokemon. Makes me wonder how different our outcome would've been when we faced that Snubbull before," Dust noted.

"Would it have been much better?" Berry asked. "I mean the only reason we struggled was because I was dehydrated, and Brody was the one who did most of the attacking."

"True, but don't forget we also lacked one thing we didn't have back then. Experience," Dust pointed out. "While our situation back then was against our favor, it was also our first time dealing with an outlaw, not including that one Shellos, since we didn't even realize that the Shellos was one until after we had completed our mission."

"Your chances would have increased had I been there to keep you from dehydrating, Berry," Shab stated. "I would keep you nice and cool from the desert's baking sun with my water moves."

"... You would've dried up too…" Berry pointed out, which made the Feebas turn white as he didn't have a counterargument for that, there was a reason why most aquatic, especially fish type Pokemon, stayed in the water.

"If it wasn't for your Rain Dance, I'm sure things would've turned out for the worst during our time in the desert," Dust added. "Brody did warn us that the dungeon would be difficult. But I'm sure if we had to go back there again, I think we would be better prepared for the desert."

"Which reminds me… we really need to be careful against that Volcanic Ash Guild. They specialize in Fire moves, including using Sunny Day. All of their team have that move from what I've seen, it would easily override my Rain Dance," Berry warned.

Dust nodded. "You two are the only ones who can do some real damage against Fire types, so I'm pretty sure they'll try to target you two first if we end up facing one of Volcanic Ash's teams."

"If only we knew some Ground type attacks… Sunny Day will weaken Water moves." Berry frowned.

"I'm sure we'll find a way to damage them still," Shab spoke up.

Patricia came up on stage, with the other team being carried away by stretchers, it was time for the final announcement that day.

"That concludes our final match for the evening," Patricia announced to the audience. "Over the past few days we have watched mind blowing battles, we have witnessed many Crusaders pull unbelievable wins over the course of the tournament. But it all comes down to the final eight! We will have the results tomorrow, and then we will start with the first match of the Quarter Finals!"

The audience erupted in a cheer, all excited to see which teams will be part of the final eight. Many were making guesses based off the matches they had seen, others couldn't wait to see the results. After a moment, the crowd calmed down once more, giving Patricia the chance to continue.

"Make sure to get a good night's rest, for tomorrow is gonna be a blast!" Patricia cheered, causing the audience to cheer with her.

"She sure knows how to rile up the crowd," Berry chuckled.

"I suppose that it is her job," Shab agreed. "Though the loud cheering, I could do without. Loud noises usually meant danger in the wild."

"Interesting," Dust noted. "In a way, I guess civilized Pokemon can relate, usually not all loud noises involve cheering, sometimes it may involve screaming or mass panic. And I'm sure others would start to panic if they heard such a thing. Maybe we can do a field experiment someday. Though we would need a good set up, find an appropriate location, and preferable test subjects…"

Dust paused realizing he was starting to go on his rants. He gave an embarrassed chuckle.

"Sorry about that," Dust apologized. "Perhaps another time, but for now, let's head back to the guild, I want each of us to be fully rested for tomorrow. I have a strong feeling that we made it to the quarter finals and it will do us no good if we are unprepared for the next day."

"Yeah, don't want to be tired for our next match, which is going to be against a tough team since they made it this far," Berry agreed.

With Shab on her head, Berry slithered onto Dust's back. Dust began to walk with the crowd to leave the building, when a familiar Persian reporter suddenly walked up to them.

"Oh! You're the team I ran into on the first day here. Team Night Tide, correct?" The Persian asked.

"Correct," Dust nodded.

"I tell you, even though it's only been a few days, with how all the matches have been so far it honestly feels like I haven't spoken with you for months." The Persian smiled.

"It has...And it's been a while… Um…" Dust paused for a moment, trying to recall the Persian's name but drew blanks. "I'm sorry, but I've forgotten your name."

The Persian chucked before replying. "No worries, I'm not surprised, a lot has happened in the last few days, so I doubt you would've remembered the name of a random reporter you only briefly had met. You may call me, Dio."

"Uh… nice to see you again, Dio," Berry remarked.

"It's good to see you three were able to make it this far. Usually the teams that make it this far have evolved Pokemon on their team already. Although… I guess an Absol technically counts as a fully evolved Pokemon," Dio noted, looking Dust up and down. "Hmm… well, while we're here, would you mind answering a few questions?"

Dust looked back at the exit where the crowd were leaving. He wanted to head back to the guild as soon as possible, so that his team could get enough rest, but seeing how earnest the Persian was, plus the fact that he had forgotten his name, Dust decided it wouldn't hurt to spend some time answering some questions. Dust gave Dio a nod, causing the Persian to smile.

"Excellent!" Dio exclaimed as he pulled out a big notepad and an ink container. Dust wasn't expecting the Persian to use Footprint Runes, though he supposed it was easier than trying to write while holding a pencil with his mouth. "I'll make this quick. You are a new team to the rank up tournament, correct?"

Dust, Berry, and Shab all nodded at Dio's question.

"Alright, now in five words or less, what do each of you hope to achieve from this tournament," Dio asked.

Dust was first to answer, already knowing what he wanted. "To obtain the Gold Rank."

"Interesting, but also respectable. Sometimes aiming high helps us to achieve our goal," Dio commented as he jotted down on his notepad before turning his attention to Berry and Shab. "And you two?"

"To test my skills," Berry answered for herself.

"To help my teammates," Shab stated.

Dio nodded as he used his paws to write it down. "Your goals are much simpler, though those are also respectable. Nothing wrong with wanting to test yourself against strong opponents, or helping your allies get into a better rank."

Dio wrote a bit more, satisfied with what he got so far.

"Alright, next question is only for Berry," Dio spoke up. "I noticed you wearing an Everstone necklace, and I assume that you are close to evolving. There are not many who have seen a Goomy evolve before, do you plan on wearing the Everstone for the entirety of the tournament, or are you planning on saving your evolution as a trump card for a future battle? And if so, do you plan on evolving during the tournament if your team is part of the final eight?"

Berry frowned before shaking her head. "I'll be wearing it for the entirety of the tournament."

"Oh? Why is that? Did you want to test yourself before evolving?" Dio asked.

"No, it's just… I have my reasons," Berry answered quietly.

Dio watched Berry closely, writing down some notes. "Hmm, well I won't pry any further, everyone has a right to keep their reasons to themselves."

Dio then looked at Dust. "Now one more question, and I'll let you go get your much needed rest. Now when we first met, do you recall what we talked about? Concerning the tournament?"

Dust thought back to their earlier encounter, though he couldn't remember all the details, he did remember Dio telling them about the mysterious case of missing Pokemon.

"I believed you mentioned something about Pokemon going missing, and to keep our eyes opened for anything like that," Dust answered.

Dio nodded before continuing. "Good, now since our last encounter, have you witnessed any such strange occurrence? Have you heard any news about missing Pokemon, or anything of the matter?"

"We did hear rumors about it from a stand seller after our first battle in the tournament," Dust answered, remembering their talk with the Cacturne. "But we hadn't seen or heard any Pokemon actually going missing."

"Hmm…" Dio was silent for a moment before responding. "This stand seller, can you tell me where you met them? I would like to meet with them tomorrow."

Dust didn't see any harm in telling Dio about the Cacturne, so he told the Persian who the stand seller was, the location on where they had met him, and even included the type of food stand they had, to help Dio with his search tomorrow.

"Thank you very much, I'll be sure to talk to them tomorrow about it." Dio smiled. "That's all the questions I have for you tonight. Good luck with the tournament tomorrow."

"Thank you, and good luck with...Um... with reporting," Dust replied.

Berry rolled her eyes. "He means good luck with your job, Mr. Dio."

"Thank you, I do look forward to seeing your team tomorrow, I'll be cheering for you," Dio bowed his head before packing up his notepad and ink container, then walked past Team Night Tide and heading for the exit.

"Do you really think there might be something strange going on in this tournament?" Shab asked after seeing the Persian leave.

"Well so far we've only heard rumors, though that doesn't seem to stop Dio from finding out more," Dust answered. "Though if anything were to happen, I'm sure he would let the guild know."

"Maybe the rumors are just there to bring in tourists?" Berry suggested. "I mean Pokemon do that to attract more Pokemon. It doesn't necessarily mean it's true, right?"

Dust nodded. "Seems to make sense. I can see that as a marketing tool to attract tourists and such."

"And I do remember certain wild Pokemon using a similar tactic when hunting prey. One would scare a group of prey towards an area while their partner would wait to spring their trap," Shab added.

"Interesting, never knew wild Pokemon could use such tactics to hunt like that," Dust noted.

Berry's antennae went up for a moment. "Hmm? There's someone else here besides us."

The entire area was empty except for them, so Dust was surprised to hear that there was another presence with them, it made him a little anxious.

"I think it's… that Riolu… Emerald, I think her name was, from Team Aura Force," Berry stated.

Dust calmed down a bit after hearing that it might be Emerald, but now was more curious than anxious. "Strange that she is still here. I wonder why? Berry, can you tell where they are exactly?"

"She's near the exit," Berry answered. "She seem… anxious."

"Let's go see what's wrong then, we might as well," Shab decided. "It might benefit us if we do help out."

Dust nodded as he started heading towards the exit. When they left the building, Dust saw the Riolu pacing back and forth. True to Berry's words, Emerald did look very anxious. It wasn't until Dust was only a few feet away that Emerald finally noticed Team Night Tide.

"Team Night Tide? What are you still doing here?" Emerald asked.

"Well we had just finished talking with a reporter. Why are you here? Is everything okay?" Dust asked.

The green-eyed Riolu frowned. "I'm not sure. I've been looking for my teammates since the first day we lost to you. First Icy went missing, Rudy and I tried to find her, but just yesterday, Rudy and I split up to try to find Icy, but I hadn't seen Rudy since. I've been trying to sense their aura, but I can't seem to make out their aura. I know they're still in the building somewhere, but I can't tell where, and I'm really worried about them."

Berry frowned. "You hadn't seen Icy since the first day? And Rudy went missing since yesterday?"

"Yesterday afternoon, yeah," Emerald confirmed. "I tried telling my guild leader, but he seems convinced they'll turn up sooner or later. But I can't help but worry, they wouldn't go somewhere without telling me, at least not for this long."

_Those rumors now seemed to be more than just rumors. _Dust thought to himself. He looked back at the stadium, thinking back to Dio's words, as well as the warning from the Cacturne. Turning back to Emerald, he saw how worried she was and could only imagine what he would have looked like if Berry or Shab suddenly went missing.

"Well, the doors are still unlocked, Berry's antennae are able to sense nearby Pokemon, it's how we knew you were out here. Maybe we can help find your teammates," Dust offered. "Plus, I'm pretty sure it was difficult trying to find your teammates when there were so many Pokemon in the stadium, but I think now is the perfect chance to go looking for them."

Emerald perked up at this. "You would… really help me find them? But… not that I'm ungrateful, why?"

"Why not?" Berry spoke up. "We know we would feel the same way if one or both of our team members were to go missing. Besides, as Crusaders, it's our job to help Pokemon in distress, even if they are a fellow Crusader."

"Thank you. Thank you very much!" Emerald started to wag her tail.

"No problem, so how about we start with where Icy went missing? We might be able to find clues leading to her whereabouts," Dust suggested as he knelt down.

"Uh...what are you doing?" Emerald asked with a confused look on her face.

Dust was confused by Emerald's question until he realized that Emerald wouldn't really understand what Dust was doing. And she didn't really need him to carry her due to being able to move just fine and fast on her own.

"My apologies, I'm so used to carrying my teammates that I just assumed to give you one too," Dust lightly chuckled.

Berry and Shab blushed, though mostly Berry since Shab chose to ride on Berry's head.

"That won't be necessary," Emerald said.

Dust nodded. "Alright… then forget about it. Lead the way to where you last saw your Glaceon teammate."

Emerald nodded before she began to move, leaving the empty arena with Dust following her.

"I'll admit… when I first saw you coming onto the arena with the Goomy on your back, and the Feebas on her head, I thought you were just a weak team that was pampering each other," Emerald started as they were walking. "You… surprised me with how you defeated us."

"It's… not that Dust is pampering us," Berry said. "It's just this is kind of necessary due to me being slow by nature, and we can't always move at a Slugma's pace."

"It's true, this is more beneficial to us than it is pampering or coddling," Shab added.

"Honestly, if you want to talk about pampering, you should see Cliff," Dust commented. "She's a Larvitar, and even though she can walk now she still wants to ride on my back."

"Why would you let a Larvitar ride on your back? Don't you know how heavy they are?" Emerald asked, not sure if Dust was joking or being serious.

"Well it's hard to say no to her, she does this thing with her eyes and after seeing them it's almost impossible to say no," Dust explained. He then saw the confused look on Emerald's face and decided to further explain himself. "Right, so to make a story short, Cliff is a Larvitar who hatched recently. I found the egg, thought it was a rock, turned out I was wrong. She hatched, saw me and Berry, and now thinks we are her parents."

"Your kidding, right?" Emerald asked before looking at Berry. "Is he making this up?"

The Goomy shook her head. "Nope. He actually brought home a Larvitar egg, thinking it was a rock."

"How could anyone be that dense?" Emerald frowned.

"Hey, to be fair I found the egg while we were underground, there wasn't much lighting, and it looked and felt like a unique type of rock," Dust explained himself.

Emerald sighed. "I apologize, I did not mean to be insulting. I should be respecting you three since you did beat us in a fair battle."

"I mean, respect is all well and good, but we are all Pokemon here. You can just be yourself around us," Berry suggested.

"I suppose you wouldn't understand. You see, the Unity Guild is… also known as the outcast guild by many other guilds. They bring in all Pokemon, whether they're weak or strong. They coddle them, and that makes them weak. In the Lucernas Guild, strength and power is what matters the most. Our Guild Leader, Chopper Garchomp, has the strong belief that the strong will prevail while the weak will perish. He pushes everyone hard, to their absolute limit, to weed out the weaklings. We became as strong as we did through harsh training to gain Guildmaster Chopper's approval. But our lost today had earned us his scorn, which is probably why he's not helping me find Icy and Rudy," Emerald sighed.

Shab frowned. "Was your guildmaster a wild Pokemon before? That sounds like something a wild Pokemon would have the mindset of."

"I don't know his full past, but from what I've learned is that he most likely adopted the mindset of those wild Pokemon, seeing how if his guild followed their example, it would only make us stronger," Emerald explained.

"How many Pokemon were able to pass Chopper's test to be a part of his guild?" Berry asked, knowing she would be kicked out the moment they looked at her.

"A handful each year," Emerald shrugged. "The Lucernas Guild has the reputation it does for a reason after all. The training is harsh, the missions are tough, if you want to join, you better be ready for Distortion World. But that's why I've gotten so strong, it was the perfect guild for me to get stronger and actually be able to do my job to help those who can't, even if they were weak enough to get caught in that situation, at least they pay us to get them out of it."

Dust frowned, while he knew the Olympus Guild could be harsh sometimes, they wouldn't outright insult Pokemon that didn't fit into their ideals of strength and independence. Team Aura Force's arrogant attitude during their battle was more understandable now, they felt they could be arrogant because they thought they were above the so-called 'outcast guild of coddlers', only to get defeated by them in the end.

"What's your guildmaster going to do with your team now that you lost to the 'outcast guild'?" Berry asked, sounding a little insulted that their guild had such a poor reputation just because they let in all Pokemon.

"I don't know yet. Guildmaster Chopper could accept some failures, after all it's Pokemon nature to fail sometimes, even the strong can't be perfect all the time, but he won't tolerate a lot of failures in a row. If we show promise and make up for our failure, he'll keep us around, otherwise, most teams would get the boot, or a punishment," Emerald answered.

"Never realized how different other guilds could be," Dust remarked. "But no matter how different we all may be, at least we have one thing in common."

"And what's that?" Emerald asked, curious to what the Absol had in mind.

"We all decided to become Crusaders," Dust answered. "So in the end, I guess we all share the same goal to help those in need."

"Yeah, I suppose," Emerald replied. "I did originally join to not only get stronger, but to help those in need. I had… a rough childhood. My eyes aren't supposed to be green, they're supposed to be red, but I was hatched with these due to a mutation that I don't quite understand. I was named after my unusual eye color. Though, I suppose I'm not the only one with strange eye colors considering one of your eyes is blue."

Dust remained silent as he thought of his blue eye. Just like Emerald, he too wondered why his eyes were different. But while he found his mismatched eye curious, it sounded like Emerald wasn't too fond of her emerald eyes. It only made Dust more curious about the Riolu's past.

"Hey… is getting stronger all that important though? I understand that being strong helps you get the job done, but is that what you mostly value and respect? Strong Pokemon?" Berry asked.

"That is how it's been with the Lucernas Guild," Emerald confirmed.

"That's…" The Goomy frowned. "This might be out of line for me to say, but I can't agree with that point of view. Too many Pokemon have been hurt by those who believe strength and power is the most important thing."

Berry narrowed her eyes as she recalled her interactions with Blizza. "I believe that strong Pokemon should be there to protect the weak. Not use the weak as a stepping stone to bring themselves to the top. We're all Pokemon, whether we're weak or strong. Isn't it worth using that strength to protect those who can't protect themselves rather than tearing down the weak Pokemon to get to the top? After all, once you reach the top… you're all alone up there."

"Such wise words, Berry. You truly are humble, which only pales in comparison to your beauty," Shab admired.

At that, Berry blushed at Shab's compliment.

The Riolu, however, looked rather surprised at Berry's speech. "I… never really thought about it that way before. I just wanted to get stronger to be able to do my job better than anyone else, to get a higher rank with my team faster than the other Normal Ranks. I… didn't think too much about the Pokemon we helped. I just saw them as a way to get more income and points to help raise our ranks. I… suppose the Lucernas Guild has a way of making you think that way after a while, putting in more value on your strength, team, and rank rather than the Pokemon you help, or… just seeing Pokemon as that, Pokemon, not competition…"

"It sounds like you and your team have been in a toxic environment for a while…" Berry said softly.

Emerald remained in silence, and no one else said anything. Dust felt the atmosphere was rather depressing and decided to try to lift everyone's mood.

"Well it's a good thing that my old guild didn't send me to the Lucernas Guild, I would've been kicked out before I even started," Dust chuckled.

"I don't see why you'd be kicked out," Emerald remarked. "You seemed pretty strong during our match. If anything I think my Guildmaster might have even been pleased to have an Absol join his guild."

"Well… I may be strong now, but…" Dust paused for a moment, looking back at Berry and Shab, they both gave him an encouraging nod. "I was actually pretty weak before I joined the Unity Guild."

"Weak?" The Riolu blinked, as if she couldn't comprehend what Dust just said. "How could you be weak? You managed to defeat us."

"Well, in my old guild, I never really participated in missions, spent most of my time researching and studying. I never actually battled another Pokemon before. In my first battle, my opponent beat me in one move, using a Dark type attack," Dust explained. "You see, while I understand your guilds methods for becoming stronger, but something you must understand about the Unity Guild is that they don't coddle their members, far from it. From what I've witnessed during my time in the guild, they help each of its members to grow and become stronger, together. If I had remained in my old guild, I would have most likely stayed the same. A weak selfish Absol who didn't have any desire or motivation to improve himself. Unity Guild has done more for me than what any other guild could possibly have done."

Dust paused for a moment, thinking about his past experience with the guild so far, of all the other members he had gotten to know, of their struggles and challenges that they had overcome. He thought it nice that Emerald thought he was strong, but then he thought of Team Destruct and their strengths. He then thought of Crimson and Blizza, the thought burned in his mind, but at the same time he noticed he felt some admiration for them. Despite the way they act, they are indeed strong, and Dust knew they had worked hard to get there. He then turned to Berry, recalling all the times she had overcome her own fears and doubts, to stand up for what she believes in.

"And I'm not the only one who has grown because of our guild, if you think I'm strong, then wait until you meet some of the other guild members, because compared to them, I still have a long way to go."

"I see… it seems that the outcast guild offers more than most Pokemon think," Emerald stated. "After all… it's the members of the Unity Guild who are helping me now, the same ones who defeated us and have no reason to respect us."

"You fought hard, and made us work for it," Berry spoke up. "That earns you respect in my eyes."

Emerald couldn't help but close her eyes and give a small smile. "Alright then… but enough with sharing our life stories. We're here, this was the last place we saw Icy before she went missing."

Dust looked around, seeing that they were currently in the lobby of the stadium. It was eerie to see it empty and dark. This was the same place that was bustling with Pokemon, now it was just empty. There weren't even any Ghost types moving around to cause mischief, it was just them.

"We were going to get something to eat after our match," Emerald sighed. "Rudy and I were standing in line while Icy went to go save us some seats, but when we got back with food, Icy was nowhere to be seen."

Dust looked around the lobby, but there were no signs of anything out of the ordinary. Everything looked just the same, minus the crowd of Pokemon that were normally here during the day.

"Does anyone else know about your missing friends, Emerald?" Dust asked as he went to check behind the lobby's desk.

"I haven't spoken to anyone else about it. I just kept looking after Rudy went missing," Emerald answered.

"Hmm…" Dust kept surveying the area, looking for any clues that might help them. "Well I'm pretty sure someone would have noticed Icy missing, especially if it was here in the lobby. Maybe there's a nearby room or something that Icy might've gone too."

Dust felt Berry slithering off of his back. "I'll help look around the area. It's pretty big. There might be a secret door or something that only small Pokemon would be able to see. Shab, you look around too, okay?"

Shab nodded as he hopped off of Berry's head and floated on the ground, then he started searching around the lobby. Dust was still behind the desk, if there was a secret room, he figured that maybe there might be a secret switch or lever, so he started moving things around, but had no luck so far. Emerald was looking around as well, mostly around the area where she and Rudy got food in case there was something there.

As Berry was slithering around the table area, the area where Icy likely went to before she disappeared, Berry felt something under her as she was slithering. It wasn't too noticeable, but it felt a little cold. Blinking, Berry moved back a little to see she ran over some kind of strand of hair or fur. Berry studied the strand of hair, noticing it was a bit cold for normal fur, and it was blue.

"Emerald, is this Icy's fur?" Berry called over to the Riolu.

Emerald ran up to where Berry was, picking up the strand of fur when she got there. She looked closely at it before closing her eyes, concentrating. Dust watched as blue energy started pulsing from the Riolu. After a few seconds the energy dissipates as Emerald opens her eyes.

"This _is_ hers." Emerald smiled. "I might be able to use this to find where Icy went!"

"You can? How?" Dust asked as he came over as well.

"Riolu have the ability to sense aura, and they can use something to track down certain aura, depending on how fresh or old it is," Emerald explained. "This fur likely came off of Icy just before she disappeared, so it might lead us to where she went."

"That's great. It's no wonder that nobody noticed it though, a strand of fur isn't exactly all that noticeable, especially in a place where many Pokemon are shedding fur," The Feebas noted, swimming in the air over to them. "You're amazing to have found that fur, Berry."

"I think I was just lucky. I'm sensitive to cold, so that was probably the only reason why I noticed it," Berry remarked.

"Let's hope that luck sticks with us, we still need to find my friend," Emerald said before closing her eyes once more. Just like last time, as she started to concentrate, her aura was starting to pulse from her body. After a minute, she pointed towards a direction. "It's faint, but I can sense a small trace of Icy's aura going in that direction."

Dust looked to where Emerald was pointing, seeing that it led to one of the hallways exiting from the lobby. "That is a truly remarkable ability, I can see how it comes very handy."

"Yeah, well you don't get the reputation that you do without training your natural abilities," Emerald stated, which made Dust wonder if it was possible for him to train his ability to sense disasters, or if Berry had trained with her ability to sense other Pokemon due to growing up in an environment where other Pokemon always gave Berry a hard time.

Dust then felt something slimy crawling up onto his back. It was familiar to him by now, which was why he didn't try to shake it off or react in disgust, it gave him comfort knowing Berry was there and getting onto his back. Shab hopped up onto Berry's head, content with staying on her whenever he didn't have to separate from her.

It was a good thing too that Berry and Shab had gotten on Dust, for Emerald had started picking up her pace. After days of not knowing where her friends were, she was now hopeful after finding her first clue to her friends whereabouts. Dust was now running after the Riolu, glad that they were the only ones currently in the stadium, he could picture the number of Pokemon either wondering why he was running, or the number of Pokemon he would accidentally bump into.

Emerald continued leading them on, with each step she took, she was able to sense Icy's aura more and more. She suddenly turned around a corner, causing Dust to almost run past where she turned. Dust backtracked and went to where Emerald went, expecting her to be far ahead already. Instead he saw that she was standing in front of a dead end.

"I… I don't understand… the aura trail ends here." Emerald frowned.

"Look around, there must be a trap door or a secret switch or something," Dust suggested.

The group looked around, thoroughly searching the area, but they found nothing. It was just a dead end.

"Either a Ghost Pokemon came and whisked Icy away, or Icy just vanished in thin air." Emerald said bitterly.

Berry frowned as she tried to use her antennae to find anything, or if Icy might be nearby. She thought she felt a faint sense of Pokemon somewhere, but they felt far and faint, it was more likely these were Pokemon outside of the stadium. Dust was still looking around, occasionally tapping the wall, looking for anything out of the ordinary, but there was nothing that looked like a secret switch or a trap door.

After a while, Emerald sighed. "Forget this, she's not here."

"Maybe someone made some kind of artificial aura to try to throw you off," Shab suggested. "It's not impossible for intelligent Pokemon to make something like that. So we still have a chance to find Icy."

"I said forget it!" Emerald shouted as she started walking past Team Night Tide.

"Hold on!" Dust yelled as he ran in front of Emerald, blocking her path.

"Get out of my way, or I'll force you too!" Emerald threatened.

Dust could tell she wasn't bluffing either, but that didn't deter him from trying to help her out. "I know things look hard right now, but we can't give up yet. We managed to find a clue, and even though it may seem like a dead end, there's still hope that we'll find your missing friends."

"We didn't find a clue, we found a phony!" Emerald snapped.

"Calm down, you're not going to be finding anyone if you let yourself lose it now," Berry spoke up. "Perhaps we should all turn in for the night and try again tomorrow when we have a clearer head."

Emerald was still angry that they were unable to find her friends, but she was also surprised that Team Night Tide was still willing to help her. She figured that it was just convenient for them since they ran into each other tonight, so she wasn't expecting them to be willing to help her more, despite only having met for a short time.

Calming down a bit, Emerald let out a long sigh before replying. "You're right, being angry won't get me any closer to finding my friends. I can't give up now, I didn't when my friends first went missing, and you can bet I won't stop till I find them… But I am grateful that you are willing to help me."

"Of course, Crusaders are supposed to help other Pokemon after all," Berry said. "Even if it's not an official mission."

Emerald shook her head and sighed, remembering what the Goomy said earlier about Crusaders. "You three go back and get some sleep. You have a match tomorrow anyways. I'll stick around here for a bit and see if I could find any more clues."

"Are you sure?" Dust asked.

Emerald nodded. "It'll be fine, I'll meet up with you tomorrow and we can try searching again when we get the chance."

"Okay, you be safe, especially if there is someone going around kidnapping Pokemon," Shab warned.

"Don't worry, I'll be able to sense any hostile Pokemon if they try anything like that," Emerald reassured.

"If you say so, we'll see you tomorrow, Emerald," Dust waved goodbye as Berry slithered on his back with Shab on top of her head.

As Emerald watched them leave, she couldn't help but chuckle to herself. "An Absol carrying a Goomy on his back with a Feebas on the Goomy's head. Can a set-up get any weirder?"

"I couldn't agree more," a sudden voice whispered behind Emerald.

Emerald didn't expect anyone to suddenly be there, but she tried jumping away from the sudden appearance of the stranger, only to be tackled down to the ground. Before she could even yell, she felt something covering her mouth, muffling her noises.

"I'm impressed, no one has actually gotten close to finding the others, but since you so desperately wish to find your friends, I can take you to them," The voice taunted.

Emerald felt she recognized the voice, but she was unable to see who her assailant was, being pinned down on the ground. But she wasn't about to give up, this mysterious attacker mentioned her friends, so that must mean they are the ones responsible for taking them. Emerald started drawing energy to her arms as she prepared to counter attack, but the moment she did, her energy started to go away. She tried again, but now she couldn't even muster the strength to lift her arms, much less move her body. It was getting harder and harder to concentrate, but that's when she realized the cloth covering her mouth must have been laced with Sleep Powder. The last thing Emerald saw was a pair of red eyes looking at her before everything went black.

* * *

**Jewel moonstone****: Traveling Master: **Heh, well Weavile was one of the guesses they made during their bet. Maybe you're right, maybe you're wrong. Who knows, only time will tell. Also, side note, Weavile is my favorite Ice Pokemon, love using Weavile in Pokken Tournament.

**Guest17 #1****: DarkFoxKit:** … No comment from my end. I have no idea what you're talking about.

**Traveling Master: **Uh...while as tempting as that would be, Dio is just a name. That may be the only reference to Jojo, but who knows, maybe in the future something else might happen, something..._bizarre_.

**Star Taurus****: DarkFoxKit:** Dust is just really interested in the Eeveelutions in general, since they're the only Pokemon with so many branching evolutions and are still stable. Glad you liked the battle.

**Greatest Guy****: Chihiro: **You can almost say that they bit the _Dust_. Though you have to commend Team Night Tide, their opponent was quite the _Force_ to be reckoned with. I'm sure when Dust saw that Glaceon, he felt a _chill_ go down his spine. It's a good thing they were careful too, else they might've gotten Ra_booted_ out of the tournament from the start. And I love that last bit, so I will also _Chihiro _the on!

**Star Gemini****: Dust: **And now you know what I had to go through! Oh, I recognized that smile, and the only time she smiles is either when she's happy, or when she's about to give me another punishment. ***Shudders* **I can only imagine what goes on through her head when she does that.

**Traveling Master: **Thank you, we wanted to add more to the mystery of Dust's father, giving a little clue, but to not spoil anything at the same time either. Do you have any guesses on who Dust's father might be? Well, only time will.

**Clam Seashell****: DarkFoxKit:** Thank you, glad you've enjoyed it.

**Guest #2****: DarkFoxKit:** Okay… first of all, Dust is an adult, not a kid. We already confirmed he's 18 years old. And pairing isn't that bad, as long as it's not getting in the way of the story. But again, try not to compare this to Ash or Naruto, these characters are considered to be adults or young adults by now, even Berry. They are also like animals in the real world, their age doesn't compare to human age, and Pokemon are confirmed to be able to have eggs even at a young age.

**Traveling Master: **Though as Dust did humorously stated, he's too young to mate. But DF is right, depending on the characters and the plans we have for them, some of them might end up with someone in the future, or they may not, it just depends on the bonds they have with others and how far it will develop. But thank you for enjoying the story so far, we hope you continue to enjoy it.

Well, as Dust had explained before concerning the Everstone, it's able to nullify any built up energy that would result in evolutions. It's also why they had filled those forms earlier, so that if something were to happen to the everstone, at least the others would be prepared in case of an evolution. So it wouldn't really count as cheating or a penalty.

**DarkFoxKit:** Mega Evolution is indeed a lost knowledge. The egg move itself is useful, Faint Attack can allow the user to sneak up on an opponent and never miss. Don't think about this from the video game perspective, but how you can use it in a real life perspective, or anime in this case. You can try to guess what or who Dust's father is from that if you want, but you won't know for sure until we get to that point.

As for how Dust's Protect works, yes, he can create a barrier that will protect them all if Berry and Shab are on or near him. I know normally in the game, you'd need something like Wide Guard to protect everyone, but since Protect is essentially a barrier that protects the user against moves, I don't see why it can't be used to keep his teammates safe as well as long as they're near him.

Berry isn't scared of a Thunder Punch. But she is unsure what she is exactly, she still refuses to believe she's a Dragon type, but she also knows she's not a Wooper, so she wasn't sure how a Thunder Punch would affect her.

**Traveling Master: **Heh, behind all that intimidation and pressure, Eclipse still loves and cares for her son, so seeing him win his first match, especially knowing how very unskilled he was in the past, caused her to be the loudest and proudest one there. And yes, both Dust and Eclipse have the ability, Pressure, though Eclipse's is far more stronger than Dust. The only time others feel pressure from Dust is when they first met him, but that quickly goes away after Dust talks. He isn't exactly your typical Absol now.

**DarkFoxKit:** Chihiro just has ways to break the fourth wall somehow. I'm not entirely sure what you're asking though.

**Traveling Master: **Well, like Dust mentioned before, he left out certain details, and might have also changed some. He most likely mentioned how the Mansion was cursed that there was a powerful ghost pokemon there who ended up breaking the curse. He would also most likely mention Mimikyu, though most likely didn't mention that she was human. It didn't cross his mind since he was currently recounting almost everything that had happened since he left Olympus Guild.

He did leave Cliff out, especially after Eclipse had asked for no more surprises, such as him being a father. But he did mention his research mission, and I can assure you Eclipse did have a laugh after hearing about Dust's special encounter with the wild Absol.

**DarkFoxKit:** I think this chapter answers your question about the Berry and Eclipse dialog. Eclipse does know what Berry is as a Pokemon. As for Chihiro… well, I usually write her more serious dialogues, TM is the one who does the puns more since I'm not much for puns myself. Though I do sometimes add in a pun or two if I can think of them.

**Traveling Master: **While Dust is an old character of mine, the moment Chihiro was created as this pun loving ghost dragon, there was no way that she could resist using Dust's name as a pun.

**Chihiro: **How can I? That name _Absol_utley has many uses!

**Traveling Master: **And no need to apologize for the grammar, we are just grateful that you enjoyed the story and for your reviews.

**Jojo's Bizarre****: Traveling Master: **Again, as I mentioned before, as tempting and fun as that would be, Dio is just a name. And it might be the only reference to Jojo, but I do love your idea for Star Platinum, that fits really well with Dialga.

**Lonelyboi69****: DarkFoxKit:** Right, cause all the Pokemon characters we saw in Mystery Dungeon don't usually have parents, or never mentioned them. XP

**Traveling Master: **It's also why we didn't go with the usual, "Human gets turned into a Pokemon and has amnesia," cause now we have a lot more options to focus more on the Pokemon themselves and on their lives. But that is a good point you brought up, never really thought about how none of the other Pokemon in the game ever have any mention of their parents.

**Guest #3****: DarkFoxKit:** We haven't really thought about giving Dust or Berry Hidden Power. Hidden Power is… a fun little gimmick. Though it seems to work a little differently in Mystery Dungeon. Unlike in the main games, in Mystery Dungeon, Hidden Power's type changes every time you go into a dungeon. In one Dungeon, it could be an Ice type move, in another, it could be a Grass type move.

**Traveling Master: **Well Hidden Power is interesting, can't say for sure yet, but I think we might end up having Dust learn Hidden power. As for the type, well, we will figure that out as when we get there. But thanks for the suggestions.

**Star Cancer****: DarkFoxKit:** No, Berry wasn't in the Volcanic Ash Guild, because they only allow Fire types, dual Fire types or Pokemon that could eventually become Fire types through evolution, like Fletchling or Eevee, are allowed to join, but Berry, who is pure Dragon type, is not allowed to join. She also didn't know much about that guild. Now, are you talking about Igneel? Because he's not the Guild Master, he's the representative of the actual Guild Master. Also, we did Berry's backstory, there had been no mentions of her joining a guild before Unity Guild.

**Guest #4****: Traveling Master: **As was mentioned before by DF, Dust is only interested in Eeveelutions, but not romantically. And yes, while Dust is old enough to have a mate/girlfriend, I don't think he's mentally mature enough, or ready to have that kind of relationship.

**Star Leo****: DarkFoxKit:** Yeah, Shab wanted to make sure Berry didn't get hurt like that. He's quite the noble Feebas.

Again, egg moves work a little differently in this story than in the games. Egg moves make it easier for the Pokemon to know that move already and genetically. However, a Pokemon without the egg move can still learn it, it'll just be harder for them to, but not impossible. We want it so all Pokemon have a chance of learning all these great moves without _needing _to be born with them.

**Guest #5****: Traveling Master: **Again, Dust is not interested in Icy romantically, only that she's an Eeveelution.

**Guest #6****: Traveling Master: **Heh, if Dust thinks he can keep Cliff a secret from Eclipse, well...let's just say that Eclipse is sure to be surprised, especially after telling Dust that she didn't want any more surprises. As for your theories concerning their parents, well now you got me wondering what you're thinking. Though, who knows, you might be right, you might be wrong, only time will tell.

**DarkFoxKit:** It can get a little annoying when we're being asked something over and over again that seemed pretty obvious, but we try not to take it hard. Heh, yeah, we're like 99% sure that humans do eat Pokemon, and that there are indeed carnivorous Pokemon. Just because it doesn't happen on-screen doesn't mean it's not happening at all.

XD Heh, rare Pokemon doesn't always equal good Pokemon. I remember searching for hours for a Chansey in Pokemon Crystal. It was not fun.

**FoxyKhai0209: DarkFoxKit:** Yup, Team Aura Force is finally here. I'm… uh… glad you liked their battle? I'm not sure if you liked what we did exactly, but good to know it was 'not bad' at least. You will just have to keep on reading to see what will happen to Team Aura Force.


	29. Chapter 29: The Quarter Finals Pt 1

**DarkFoxKit:** I see you've been playing Paper Mario lately, TM.

**Traveling Master: **Well it started with the Origami King on the switch, and yeah, it's pretty fun. But the more I played it, the more I thought of the one from the gamecube. Thousand Year Door. And after some tinkering, I now am able to play it on my computer!

**DarkFoxKit:** Don't yell that so loud, you might get in trouble.

**Traveling Master: **Trouble? Who am I gonna get in trouble with?

**DarkFoxKit:** With the legal police of Nintendo. Ah, but don't worry, I'm sure that they won't care about a Charmeleon playing the game on his computer.

**Traveling Master: **Oh crap, right. Computer? I didn't say that. I mean...regular gamecube...mario paper...yeah...legal...Lets get on with the story!

**DarkFoxKit:** Hmm? Is that sirens I hear outside?

**Traveling Master: **What?! Not again! Dust, initiate Alpha plan Delta!

**Dust: *Dust was seen already carrying some suitcases* **Already ahead of you!

**Traveling Master: **Okay DF, I'll be taking a...short vacation...bye!

**DarkFoxKit:** What… are you doing…? YOU BETTER GET BACK HERE RIGHT NOW!

**Dust: **Just run TM, RUUUUUUN! Also, enjoy the chapter everyone!

* * *

**Chapter 29: The Quarter Finals Pt. 1**

Dust laid asleep on his bed, having gotten back to the guild late last night. Before going to sleep he hoped that they would get enough sleep before the next day. Both Berry and Shab were still asleep as well, all tired from their late investigation with Emerald. The only one who was awake was Cliff, who had gotten up earlier. She tried waking up Dust, but no matter how much she shook him, he remained asleep. Cliff didn't know what to do, until a sudden knocking came on their door.

Cliff ran up to the door, having learned how to walk several days ago. She opened up the door, seeing her aunt Carrie and her best friend and cousin Chloe there.

"Hello there, Cliff," Carrie greeted.

"Auntie Carrie. Mommy, Daddy, and Uncle Shab won't wake up," Cliff stated.

"I was wondering where they were," Carrie walked in, seeing all of Team Night Tide soundly asleep. "Cliff, I suggest you cover your ears, it's about to get real loud."

"Mommy's about to use Uproar, it's very loud," Chloe warned from Carrie's pouch.

Cliff nodded before going behind Carrie and used her stubs to cover the sides of her head. Chloe went back into Carrie's pouch, already preparing for what's coming next.

Carrie took a deep breath before shouting, "YOU BETTER GET YOUR TAILS UP RIGHT NOW BEFORE YOU END UP DISQUALIFIED!"

The reaction was instantaneous. Berry let out a squeal as she let out a Water Pulse into Dust's face. Shab, at the same time, shot out an Ice Beam at Dust, freezing the water on him. Dust was shocked, confused, and cold all at the same time. He didn't know what to do, luckily for him Carrie walked up to him, made sure to hold him down and tapped the frozen parts on Dust, effectively breaking off the ice.

"W-what j-just happened?" Dust asked through his shivering teeth.

"I had just given you three a good wake up call, since you all decided to sleep in and almost miss the tournament!" Carrie reprimand. "Now you three need to head over to the stadium, especially if your team is up first in the quarter finals. If you fail to show up, it will count as a forfeit and you can bet it won't help your rank."

"Ah, crap!" Berry grabbed onto Shab with her antennae and jumped onto Dust's back.

Dust yelp as Berry pretty much almost body slammed his back, but he rushed out the door after stumbling around for a second to recover from the sudden weight.

Cliff waved goodbye to them, seeing them rush down the hallway, towards the exit.

"See, told you my Mommy can be loud," Chloe spoke up after poking her head out of Carrie's pouch.

"Wow, I want to be loud just like Auntie Carrie!" Cliff exclaimed excitedly.

"If you want to be loud, you have to really take a deep breath and let it loose with your voice. Maybe you can even be loud enough so Dust, Berry, and Shab can hear you cheering for them!" The little Kangaskhan smiled.

* * *

Dust was rushing outside, going through White Leaf Town, nearly running into every Pokemon there along the way.

"Sorry about drenching you and freezing you," Berry apologized while Dust was rushing.

"Y-yeah, it was purely out of reflex," Shab added.

"While it may have been an unpleasant way to wake up, I can assure you, that wasn't the worst way I've woken up before," Dust replied. "Let's just say my Mother has other methods that are much less preferable than how we woke up."

"Your mom still scares me," Berry shivered.

"She is a very scary lady," Shab agreed.

Dust finally made it into the stadium, however, as he was running through the crowd of Pokemon, they heard an announcement being made by Patricia.

"**-on the other side of the arena, the team who will be battling these red hot Team Volcano, will be Team Night Tide!"**

This caused Dust, Berry, and Shab to all scream, realizing if they were late, they were disqualified.

"Out of all the teams- why are we the first ones to battle!?" Shab yelled.

"Keep your mic on! We're coming!" Berry shouted.

They were running out of time, Dust didn't know if he should go towards the entrance where all the other contestants used to enter the arena or if he should go another direction. Having little time, he opted to go towards the nearest entrance, seeing that it led them to the first level of the audience. No going back now, Dust kept rushing towards the edge, he quickly surveyed the height of the wall from the ground, calculating in his head, seeing if it was low enough for him to jump off.

"HOLD ON TIGHT!" Dust shouted as he got closer and closer to the edge.

As soon as the spotlight came on to where Team Night Tide needed to be, Dust barely managed to land right in the spot they needed to be. The audience, who weren't confused to what just jumped over them, cheered at seeing Team Night Tide. Dust was sweating. _Just barely made it in time! _

"Oh gosh, that was _too_ close," Berry grumbled.

"That leap you just did, Dust, would've made any Magikarp jealous," Shab complimented.

"While I'm grateful for the compliment, I would rather not have to do something like that again, especially if I'm having others on my back," Dust replied.

"Nice entrance, wanting to show off a bit before the battle starts? Though you look like you tired yourself out, not a good move," A Quilava from the other side of the arena commented.

To the right of the Quilava was a Larvesta, and to the left of the Quilava was a Fletchinder.

"Be a shame if they lost after doing such a performance," Larvesta commented. "Maybe they didn't think this fully through."

"Or, you know, maybe they were running late and got desperate," The Fletchinder snickered.

"Whatever their reason, don't underestimate them," Quilave warned. "You remember their match with Team Aura Force, underestimate them and they'll end up pulling a fast one over us."

"We won't fall like Team Aura Force did," The Fletchinder remarked with pride.

"Hmm… so they really are a team of Fire types," Berry noted.

"Yeah, and the fact they got this far despite their common weaknesses shows how tough they can be," Shab agreed.

"Well that's the Volcanic Ash Guild for ya, they are known for their Fire types, their missions consist of rescue, hunting for outlaws, and tackling dungeons that are more suited for their types," Dust added.

Berry slithered off of Dust. "Dust… you did bring the bag of items with us, didn't you?"

"Of course I did, it's right here," Dust said as he reached for his bag, only to end up grabbing empty air. He turned to where his bag was supposed to be, only to see that it was not there. "...Uh oh."

"Uh-oh indeed…" Berry groaned.

"Uh… we're… not in a good spot… are we…" The Feebas frowned.

"No, no we are not," The Goomy groaned.

"Looks like they don't have items either," Quilava noted. "Either they are that confident in this match, or complete nimrods… I honestly can't tell."

"Well their confidence or idiocy will be their undoing," The Larvesta hissed.

"I know you said we shouldn't underestimate them, but they are making it really hard not to," The Fletchinder snarked.

"It seems Team Night Tide accidentally left their items behind. Will they still be able to take on Team Volcano?" Patricia asked.

"Toss our bag away," Quilava suddenly said to the Fletchinder.

Both Larvesta and Fletchinder nodded as the Fletchinder picked up the bag around Quilava with his talons and tossed it out of the arena.

"Amazing, in a show of true sportsmonship, Team Volcano has decided to discard their items, wanting to fight on equal terms with Team Night Tide!" Patricia shouted into her mic. "We've got a real classic battle going on now!"

"Why? You had the advantage," Dust questioned.

"Exactly. It wouldn't be a fair fight. If we had to battle you, we rather it was a true victory. A victory because of a handicap isn't a victory that we would accept," The Quilava informed.

Dust wondered what kind of Guild Volcanic Ash was, what training they must go through, what challenges each member must have faced. But seeing the Quilava's conviction, he could feel the pride coming from the fire Pokemon. His heart was starting to race, not out of fear, but out of anticipation. This was the same feeling Dust had felt whenever he thought of facing Crimson, while nervous, he body was itching to fight. Dust was not expecting to have this same reaction with someone he only met a few moments ago, but he accepted the feeling, eager to face Team Volcano.

Berry shivered beside him, though Dust couldn't tell if she was shivering out of fear or excitement like he was. Shab looked nervous, but determined.

The Mawile raised up her hand. "Let the battle BEGIN!"

"Now! Formation Sun!" The Quilava ordered as flames erupted on his head and behind.

Larvesta looked up at the ceiling before letting out a small cry. There was a sudden artificial mini sun on the ceiling, beating its harsh light down on them. Berry and Shab really didn't like this heat. Fletchinder, as soon as the Sunny Day was set up, coated himself with flames and dived at them with Flame Charge.

Dust knew that Team Volcano would be very experienced, but he was still surprised by the sudden coordination of their attack. He quickly used Protect, forming the white barrier around him just as Fletchinder made contact. The attack harmlessly bounced off, but the Fletchinder recovered before Dust could make a counter move.

Something caught Dust's attention to the side and he saw the Quilava was using Flame Wheel as he was going straight for Berry.

"Berry, on your left!" Dust warned Berry.

Berry gasped but didn't have time to move due to her slower speed, the Quilava rammed into her. Berry hissed, but Shab was still on her head. Berry growled as she fought through the pain as best she could and use a Water Pulse attack at point blank range. The Sunny Day normally weakened water attacks, but because Quilava was right in front of Berry, the Water Pulse didn't have time to get weakened by the sun. There was steam when Berry made the ball of water on the fiery coated Quilava. Sbab used his own Water Pulse attack as well, hoping to help Berry get the Quilava off of her.

With steam covering the place, Quilava ceased his attack and jumped back. Although he was a bit wet, his flames on his head and behind were still burning strong. Berry slither out from the steam, her body a little burned, but nothing serious.

The Larvesta suddenly shot out a bright green beam at Dust, who had been distracted by Berry being attacked. Dust gasped as the beam slammed right into him, causing an explosion.

"Dust!" Berry cried out.

"Is he okay?" Shab asked in concern.

As the smoke cleared, they saw Dust was still standing, though his fur was all ruffled from the attack, and he was heavily breathing.

"Now that's what I call getting some extra Vitamin D!" Patricia exclaimed. "So far Team Volcano has been on the offense and have already dealt a heavy blow towards Team Night Tide's leader. Will they be able to withstand the fiery force of Team Volcano, or will the fire team burn this match to a crisp?!"

"Are you okay, Dust?" The Goomy asked in concern.

"I don't think we should be fighting these guys separately. They're too strong. In the wild, when facing against strong Pokemon, it's best to regroup and attack as one," Shab advised.

Dust didn't reply at first, only nodding as he regrouped with Berry and Shab. "Shab is right, this team isn't like the others we faced so far. If we want any chance of beating them, we best stick together."

Berry frowned as she looked at the Absol. "Should I get back on your back?"

"Yeah," Dust answered. "Don't worry… I still have enough strength to carry you and Shab."

The Goomy nodded before she quickly slithered up onto Dust's back.

"Heh, well, I have to say I'm impressed. Not a lot of Pokemon usually stay conscious after our first group attack," Quilava noted.

"Let's just say...we've been through a lot together," Dust replied.

"It shows," Quilava acknowledged. "Now show us what your team is made of!"

"That Sunny Day is making them stronger while weakening me and Shab," Berry whispered to Dust. "I can try to put up the rain to give us the advantage, but I feel like they'll just put the sun back up almost as quickly. Meaning we'll have to attack fast before they get the chance to once I set up the rain."

"So far only Larvesta used Sunny Day, and I'm guessing the others don't know the move," Dust whispered back.

"So our best bet is targeting the Larvesta?" Shab asked, which Dust nodded back to him. "They most likely would be expecting us to target him though."

"Come on, if you're not going to attack, then we will strike again!" Quilava called out, noticing their hesitation.

"If we're going to make a move, we better do it now," Berry stated.

"Right, here goes!" Dust began running towards Team Volcano.

"Heh, a head on collision then? An valiant effort, but a simple foolish one," Quilava remarked. "Formation Fire!"

Flames cloaked around the Quilava, Fletchinder, and Larvesta, all three using either Flame Wheel or Flame Charge on themselves.

At that point, Berry called up to the sky, or rather ceiling in this case. Clouds suddenly began to form over the artificial sun, covering it completely. Not long after that, the clouds began to pour out rain all over the area. Despite the sudden rain, Team Volcano continued emitting fire from their body as the rain caused steam to come off from the flames. Dust had hoped that the rain would have put out their fire, but he already assumed that a guild filled with only fire types would most likely have gone through rigorous training to cover their main weakness. Though the rain did weaken their fiery cloak.

"They have someone with Rain Dance," Larvesta noted.

"How irritating," Fletichnder grumbled.

"Stand your ground," Quilava stated. "When the opportunity arises, use Sunny Day."

"Roger," Larvesta nodded, already preparing to use the move once they had the chance to.

"We may not have any special formations or names, but we do have our special attack," Dust said to Berry and Shab while continuing his charge. "We probably only get one shot, so we better make it count."

Berry jumped from Dust's back and shot out a Water Pulse towards the Larvesta. The Rain Dance boosted the Water Pulse attack, making it stronger than normal. Dust and Shab combined the attack with their Ice Beam move.

"Block it!" Quilava shouted.

Fletchinder used Quick Attack to fly in front of the Larvesta, taking the combination attack himself. Fletchinder was thrown back a few feet, his body no longer cloaked in flames, and laid on the floor. Fletchinder hissed in pain as he pushed himself back up on his talons.

Seeing that Fletchinder managed to get back up, Quilava quickly ordered, "Formation Solar Eclipse."

Fletchinder nodded as he flew and landed on top of Larvesta.

"Are you able to pull this off?" Larvesta asked.

"Tch, we've been through worse, though it would help if you would eat less," Fletchinder answered with a smirk.

"You calling a girl fat?" Larvesta replied back with no real malice.

"What now?" Berry frowned when she landed back on Dust's back.

Berry didn't have to wait long to get an answer, for Fletchinder started flying in the air, while also carrying Larvesta with his talons. Dust was not expecting such a maneuver, though he should've known they would do something like that, recalling how Talon used to carry Tippi everywhere.

"You shouldn't be taking your eyes off the battlefield!" Quilava shouted as he charged at Dust while his body was covered in flames.

At the same time, Larvesta gave a shout to the ceiling, clearing the clouds immediately, bringing back the artificial sun, powering up Quilava's Flame Wheel. Berry and Shab reacted quickly and used their Water Pulse attack to try to stop it or slow it down. Sunny Day weakened their water attacks however, and the Flame Wheel was too powerful to be stopped, but they did weaken it a bit before he ran into Dust.

Dust hissed as he was being pushed back, but he managed to dig his claws onto the ground to stop himself and his passengers from falling to the ground. There was a bright light above them that was too bright to just be the sun. Dust's attention was on the immediate threat, however. Quilava smirked at him.

"Time for you to say goodnight, Absol," Quilava taunted.

There was a loud sound, like something big was just fired. Dust paled as he looked up, seeing the bright green beam heading right for him. Luckily for Dust, however, Berry had been paying attention to the opponents above them. Berry grabbed Shab with her antennae and tossed him off of her before she jumped right at the Solar Beam, taking a direct hit from it. An explosion soon followed after, covering most of the arena in smoke.

"Berry!" Both Dust and Shab shouted at the same time.

"It would seem your teammate sacrificed herself for you," Quilava noted. "Too bad though, that her sacrifice will be in vain."

Quilava started running towards Dust again, getting ready to use another Flame Wheel, when something came out of the smoke of the explosion earlier, glowing red. Quilava suddenly found himself on the floor, in pain, a bit wet, and feeling something slimy on top of his back. He let out surprised yelp as he was on the ground.

Berry was on top of the Quilava's back, her body was glowing red from the Solar Beam attack, though there wasn't a scratch on her body from the Solar Beam itself. She had just dropped down on the Quilava with a Body Slam after her body absorbed the powerful Grass attack.

"What happened to Berry?" Shab asked as he got on Dust's back.

"Sap Sipper, I completely forgot she had that ability," Dust remarked.

Shab looked at Berry with more admiration. "She always keeps on surprising me."

"You can say that again," Dust replied. "But we aren't out of this fight yet, while Berry is preoccupying Quilava, we need to take care of those two in the air."

"Leader!" Fletchinder called out in concern.

"Don't worry about me! You two handle the other two!" Quilava shouted.

Without anymore hesitation, Fletchinder flew down at Dust and Shab, his wings turning into steel while still carrying the Larvesta in his talons. At the same time the fire bug Pokemon started covering her body in flames as she started using Flame Charge. Dust decided to focus energy in his tail as he prepared to use Iron Tail. Waiting for the right moment, Dust watched as the two fire Pokemon were closing the distance between each other.

Dust then jumped forward, twisting his body to counter attack Fletchinder's Steel Wings with his own Iron Tail. At the same time Shab fired Water Pulse at Larvesta, though Sunny Day kept the flames burning, it did manage to weaken Larvesta's attack. The attacks collided, with Dust blocking Fletchinder's attack, but also receiving Larvesta's Flame Charge. Thankfully Shab's Water Pulse managed to weaken the damage, while also harming Larvesta.

Dust landed back, but the moment he touched the ground, his legs almost gave out. Shab then noticed that steam was coming off Dust's body.

"Dust, what's wrong?" Shab asked, already started to feel the Absol's body heat up.

Dust was breathing harder than before now. "I...think...I got burned…"

Before Shab could say anything else, Quilava came running near them, he was rolling on the ground, throwing Berry off of him. Berry hissed as she landed in front of Dust.

"You think you could stick on me and not expect this?" Quilava hissed. "I'm going to make sure none of you will be able to hit me and stop my Rollout combo!"

Suddenly, there are 10 Quilava surrounding them. Fletchinder flew up with Larvesta, knowing it was best to stay far away from Quilava when he was using his Rollout combo. Each Quilava then charged at Team Night Tide. Dust couldn't tell which one was the real one, so he used Protect around himself, Berry, and Shab just as the 10 Quilava made contact with his white barrier. They all bounced back, but now were all circling Dust.

"Guys, I won't be able to keep using Protect," Dust warned his teammates.

"How can we tell which one is the real one?" Shab asked as he watched the multiple Quilava around them.

Berry was trying to sense the real Quilava, but he was moving too fast, and there were too many Pokemon in the area for her to pick up on the Quilava.

"I have an idea," Dust said before wincing from the Burn. "I might be able to find the real one with Faint Attack. Only problem is that I'll most likely be taking on his Rollout Attack as soon as I do, so you two are gonna have to react fast."

"Try not to get too hurt out there, Dust…" Berry said in concern. _I should've trained how to pinpoint a certain Pokemon's location._

Dust smiled as he looked back at Berry. "The fact that I'm still standing is pretty hard to believe, but I still got some energy left in me, don't worry, I'll be fine."

When Dust turned away though, his smile was replaced with a wincing pain. _Though truth be told, I'm not sure how much longer I can last. Better make this count._

Knowing that Quilava would attack soon, Dust decided to wait until they made their move. The 10 Quilava continued picking up speed as they circled around Team Night Tide. Then suddenly they all turned straight towards them, faster than last time, though Dust was now prepared. The moment Quilave turned towards him, Dust charged forward, letting his body move on it's own as he used Faint Attack. Just as he thought, his attack led him towards one of the Quilava that was to the right of him. Dust braced for the impact, knowing that Quilava's Rollout attack had gained even more power than last time.

Dust felt pain in his chest when the Rollout attack hit him directly. He felt his body being flung off of the arena due to how fast and powerful the Rollout was when it hit him. In his mind, time seemed to have slowed down. The pain, his Burn, they were all numb all of a sudden. In fact, as far as Dust could remember, other than being close to death the last few times, this was likely his first time experiencing a true faint from an attack. Not a close to death one. Dust sort of expected it to feel the same, but he had been wrong. It felt similar, but very different. He could feel his consciousness starting to fade, but he also knew he was nowhere near death. He could hear the faint cries of Berry and Shab calling out in worry for him. He could see his mother in the stands as he was being flung out of the arena looking down at him. Dust closed his eyes, everything went black for him as his body hit the ground below.

As soon as Dust's body was on the ground, Patricia ran over to him to see if he could still fight. After a couple of seconds, she turned her attention to the audience. "Dust is unable to battle. He gave it his all, taking on so many brutal attacks, but it looks like that Rollout was too much for him. Things are starting to heat up, but even though Team Night Tide lost a member, Team Volcano still had suffered some damage. This still can be anyone's match!"

Quilava stopped his Rollout attack and chuckled. "Heh… yeah, well it doesn't look like we may have much of a competition after that. That Absol was your leader, wasn't he?"

Berry and Shab both frowned at that. Dust was indeed their leader, and he was also the strongest one out of the three of them.

"Look at those faces," Quilava chuckled as he closed his eyes. "Looks like I was right on the Poke with that one."

Fletchinder descended to the floor, putting Larvesta on the ground. "What's our next move, Leader?"

"We take them out quickly before they have a chance to retaliate," Quilava answered. "Now, Formation Blazing Sun!"

With the Sunny Day still up, all three members of Team Volcano cloaked themselves with flames, flames that grew stronger due to the sun. They all charged at Berry and Shab. Berry tried to move out of the way, but she was too slow without Dust. She also didn't have a move like Protect to stop the attack.

"I'm sorry, Berry… I know it may not do much, but… I can't let them burn your fragile and precious body while I'm still conscious," Shab suddenly said.

"What? What do you- SHAB!" Berry screamed when she looked back, seeing the Feebas had jumped in front of her, taking all three of Team Volcano's attacks head on.

The Feebas didn't last long after that. His body almost looked like it had been cooked well done style as he fell to the ground. Patricia didn't even need to check Shab, he was definitely in no condition to keep going.

Meanwhile, in the Audience, Al had been watching the whole fight. After seeing Shab go unconscious, he started sniffing the air as his stomach started rumbling.

"Heh, I could go for some fish sticks," Al joked, only to receive a blow to his head from both Brody and Grant.

"How disrespectful!" Grant snapped.

"You want everyone to know you're a complete Tepig, you glutton!?" Brody hissed.

"I was just joking! But speaking of Tepig, that doesn't sound too bad-" Al started, only to receive another blow to the head.

Since Shab was in such a bad shape, the medics were called onto the arena immediately. Berry was surprised to see Dr. Perfume himself came over. Dr. Perfume looked at Shab for a moment.

"Don't worry, he's in pretty rough shape, but he'll recover," Dr. Perfume reassured the Goomy.

Berry just gave a relieved nod as Dr. Perfume moved Shab onto a stretcher that two Audino were carrying. A couple of Chansey picked up Dust as well, putting him on a bigger stretcher. The medics then moved the two unconscious Pokemon away, leaving Berry the only member on Team Night Tide left in the arena.

"If it means anything, your team really did fight well," Quilave spoke up. "It's not often we face an opponent who has made it this far. But it's time to put this to an end."

"We're sorry, but this is the way it has to be," Larvesta apologized.

"We'll try to make this quick," Fletchinder stated.

"Now…" Quilava flared up his flames once more. "Once again, Formation Blazing Sun!"

The three Pokemon cloaked themselves in fire once more and began charging at the helpless Goomy. Time seemed to have slowed down for Berry as she could only watch the incoming three fireballs.

_I can't dodge this. I can't block this either. I wouldn't be able to summon the Rain Dance in time before they reach me. Is this really it? Are we going to lose right here and now?_ Berry questioned herself. _Dust needed to win this, didn't he? We've all fought so hard to make it this far. We couldn't even take out a single member of this team though? Dust… Shab… they both fell… I can't… I can't just let myself fall without fighting back. They both fought hard to protect me. I won't let their sacrifices be in vain!_

Something sparked in Berry as the three fireballs got closer. Berry let out a cry before surrounding herself with water using a combination of Rain Dance and Water Pulse. The Rain Dance wasn't used over the arena, however, it formed a single cloud over Berry herself. The Water Pulse seemed to have turned into a large water dragon as it chomped down on the very surprised three members of Team Volcano. The Water Pulse had some of Berry's Dragon Breath in it as well.

Team Volcano were pushed back, their flames quickly extinguish, they were all also soaked from the attack. They quickly got back to their feet, looking at the Goomy in shock.

"W-what's happening to the Goomy?" Larvesta asked as she shivered.

"I don't know?!" Fletchinder replied.

Quilava didn't reply, but was only shocked. Despite the attack being water, it felt very familiar to Quilava. He looked up to where Igneel was, seeing that he was watching the match very intently. Quilava had only felt this sensation from the stronger members of their guild, so he was confused why a Goomy like Berry was able to produce such a powerful attack that felt so familiar.

"What should we do, leader!?" Fletchinder spoke up in a slight panic.

Berry spread out the cloud, covering the arena with rain. She then began to condense her Dragon Breath, but was also adding in her Water Pulse.

Quilava didn't answer Fletchinder, all he could do was watch in shock, unable to believe what he was seeing.

"Leader? _Meteor_!" Larvesta and Fletchinder shouted.

Berry shot out the attack, which turned into an even bigger, fiercer, more intimidating water dragon. The rain was making an already powerful water attack even more powerful. The water dragon came at them with the intense rage filled power that only one other Pokemon Quilava, Meteor, had felt in his lifetime. And that was what froze Meteor. The water dragon chomped down and drowned all three members of Team Volcano. Their bodies were easily swept away by the waves of water the water dragon left behind. They ended up hitting a wall, which was the stands that the audience were sitting in.

Berry breathed heavily, a part of her wanted to finish them off. It felt wild and uncontrollable, it wanted to finish off the threats that wanted to hurt her before. Despite the three of Team Volcano struggling to try to breathe, Berry grinned savagely, enjoying watching them squirm as they helplessly flail in the water. Berry started to create another Water Pulse with her Dragon Breath. She wanted to watch them drown, to become nothing more than soggy pieces of meat. They deserved this after all, they hurt her, they hurt her friends, they must be punished. She will not show them any mercy.

There were voices telling Berry to stop, the other three were in no condition to keep going, but they sounded like garble messes to the Goomy right now. All she wanted was to drown those three idiots and watch them squirm until the life disappeared from their eyes.

She was so focused on watching Team Volcano struggle that she didn't notice the shadow that was above her. Suddenly a figure landed hard in front of her, sending a shockwave and cutting off her attack. Everyone gasped as they saw the Hellfire himself as he stood in front of Berry. Despite being hit by her powerful attack, Igneel seemed hardly fazed, as he towered over Berry.

Exerting so much pressure, in a low voice, Igneel spoke, "Calm down, this isn't you."

Berry didn't know why, but despite all that heavy pressure, she felt a strange sense of comfort from the large and powerful Charizard before her. She should have been frightened, but she wasn't. Her sense of self started to return, she remembered her Pokemanity. The rain she had summoned slowed down to a stop, the clouds fading away. The wild water that had Team Volcano trapped under finally stopped, becoming shallow, and allowing the very drenched team to breathe again.

The Goomy felt very tired and woozy, her eyes slowly started to close, unable to stay conscious after three consecutive powerful attacks from her outburst. Before Berry lost consciousness, however, Igneel turned to the three members of Team Volcano. Berry noticed a rather large burn scar on the Charizard's back. She didn't have much time to think on the matter, however, as soon everything went black for her.

* * *

"...Be…" A voice called out, though barely heard. "...Ber…"

Berry shifted slightly at the noise, she could barely register it, her mind still dark from her previous battle. There was a moment of silence, when she felt something nudge her, clearing her mind a little at a time.

"...Berry…" The voice called out again, though Berry was able to hear this familiar voice.

As Berry focused more on the voice, and the continual nudging of her body, her mind was clearing up more and more. She felt exhausted, but that didn't stop her from opening her eyes. At first she had to squint from the sudden bright light, but soon her eyes adjusted and she started opening them wider. Things were a bit blurry, Berry spotted two figures by her, but as seconds went by those blurry images started to clear and she soon saw her two friends, Dust and Shab. She noticed the concerned looks on their face but then saw how quickly they changed to relief at seeing her open her eyes.

"Look, she's coming through!" Dust happily exclaimed.

"Oh thank Kyogre, I was worried she would never wake up," Shab commented.

Berry groaned, she felt a bit nauseous, and had a terrible headache. Her body felt really tired, and a little bit numb. "Ugh… did I… lose that badly…?"

"Lose? Actually, you did quite the opposite," Dust answered.

"What do you mean 'I did the opposite'? I feel like I was just pounded into dough back there… I had no way to win that battle…" Berry grumbled, seeing how the last thing she remembered before waking up was having Team Volcano ganging up on her.

"We're not sure, we were just told that our team won when we came to," Shab informed. "But you must've done something to win against those three, because you are just awesome like that."

"I don't know… maybe I had an outburst, but don't remember it…?" Berry asked, sounding unsure. "But I feel like I've been chewed up by a Bouffalant and spat back out. It feels more like I got beaten up than did an outburst."

"Hmm, well I did have the same thoughts, but lately you've been able to control those outbursts of yours," Dust remarked. "Though I supposed it was just you against Team Volcano, so maybe you ended up using a more powerful version of your outburst."

"How could there be a more powerful version? I feel like the 'first version' was strong enough," Berry groaned.

"We didn't see what happened, and nobody is telling us how you won, so… I guess we'll have to wait for more information to know for sure what happened," Shab spoke up.

"Well…" Talon spoke up as he hopped over to them. "We were watching it, but we thought it would be better if someone else told you exactly _how_ you won."

Team Silkwing were the only other team left in the Normal Rank of the Unity Guild. They and Team Night Tide had lasted up to this point, which was quite impressive. Tippi had shown how well she could fight when she needed to, even though Butterfree weren't usually known for their fighting prowess. Ivy had been really good at being fast and agile, making it hard for the opponent to hit her, as well as confuse them on where she was.

"It was… quite the battle to watch…" Tippi timidly remarked.

At first Berry was glad to see Team Silkwing join them, but when she saw their concerned expression, she sensed that there was more to what happened between her and Team Volcano. And for some reason, the thought of it made her worried as well. A part of her didn't want to ask, but she needed to know what happened. "What… happened?"

"I think you should let _him _tell you," Ivy spoke up, pointing at another incoming Pokemon.

Dust, Shab, and Berry were surprised to see it was the Quilava of Team Volcano. However, he was limping, his fur looked sickly faded instead of the healthy dark blue and cream color it once was. He had some bandages around his head and torso.

"I see you're awake… good…" Quilava stated as he approached them.

Berry stared at the injured Quilava in shock. "W-what happened to you?"

"You don't remember?" Quilava asked as he chuckled a bit, only to wince from the sudden sharp pain. "Not surprised since you used… Anyways, let me guess, you feel exhausted as though you've been trampled by a Tauros?"

"Y-yeah…" The nervous Goomy confirmed.

"I figured," Quilava said. He looked away for a moment, deep in thought before returning to Berry. "Alright, I'll tell you what happened, but only on one condition."

"What's the condition?" Berry asked.

"I have a few questions I want to ask you, so once I'm done, no matter what those questions will be, you will answer them honestly. Agreed?" Quilava asked.

"O-okay," Berry answered, still nervous and unsure if she really wanted to know what had happened.

Seeing that Berry was ready and willing to comply with his conditions, Quilava began to explain what had transpired during their battle, starting off when Shab had just been knocked out. He explained how him and his teammates had the advantage over Berry and were preparing to deliver the final blow. Quilava paused for a moment, briefly shuddering at recalling what happened next before continuing. He explained how Berry started to exert a strong pressure as she started to use Rain Dance, but instead of being like before, this one was more centered around Berry. Her power continued to build up as she released a devastating water attack that took the form of a Dragon. When Quilava had mentioned that part, Dust saw how shaken up the fire Pokemon was, but then he noticed Berry was equally just as shaken. This was nothing like Berry's previous outburst.

Quilava continued, stating how shocked he was to see Berry using such a move. He explained how Berry used the attack three times, each one more powerful than the last. The first one is the reason why Quilava had bandages wrapped around his head and torso. But that wasn't the worst part, for after the first attack, Quilava stated that him and his team were already defeated, but that didn't stop Berry. He shared with the others the look Berry had, that he didn't see the Goomy that they were battling before, but he saw a wild Pokemon that didn't plan on holding back.

"That third and final attack of yours would've…," Quilava stopped himself, shuddering at the thought. "Luckily Igneel stopped you at the last second. I don't know how he did it, or if he said anything to you, but shortly after he came, you had ceased your attack. By then me and my teammates had gone unconscious. I was the first to have woken up, my teammates were still recovering. Oh… one more thing… my name is Meteor. You deserve to know my name at the very least."

Berry was quiet. She didn't know what to say. She was horrified when Meteor told her what had happened. Now that she thought back, she did remember having this feeling of bloodlust that she couldn't control. It terrified her, she never felt that way before, and it made her even more afraid of what she was, and what she could've done if someone didn't stop her.

"Now that I've explained what happened, I will ask my questions now," Meteor said.

"Give her a moment!" Dust shouted as he stepped in front of Meteor. "Can't you see she needs time to collect her thoughts?!"

Despite his pale fur, Meteor didn't back down, slightly giving off some flames that almost burned through the bandages. "You think I came here just to traumatize her? My teammates were almost…" Meteor started off but then looked at Berry. "Look, I came here because I had a feeling that your little gooey partner would not remember what had happened and that I had questions of my own. So don't go acting like you're the only one who almost lost his teammates!"

Dust looked like he was about to retort when Berry spoke up. "It's alright, Dust…" Berry looked at the Quilava. "What are your questions?"

Dust didn't want to step aside, but since Berry seemed okay with Meteor asking her his questions, Dust begrudgingly obliged.

"Thank you, Berry. I only have three questions for you, so I shouldn't take too much of your time," The Quilava took a deep breath before asking his first question. "First, concerning your...outburst, has anyone ever trained you or taught you to use your outburst?"

Berry sighed, it hurt to even shake her head. "No… not many even know… or… knew about my outbursts, until now I guess…"

"Hmm…," Meteor watched Berry closely before nodding. "Alright, second question. Who are your biological parents, specifically your father?"

Berry blinked before sighing. "I… don't know. I was raised by a family of Quagsire. They were the only parents I knew."

Meteor frowned at that, whether it was because he felt pity for Berry or perhaps he wasn't satisfied with the answer, though it might have been both.

"Final question… Have you ever met someone named…" Meteor paused for a moment, looking as though he was reluctant to even continue with his question. But after a couple seconds he sighed before continuing. "..._Calcifer_?"

Meteor said the name as though saying it was some sort of taboo.

Berry frowned as she looked at Dust and Shab for a moment. Both of them just shrugged, the name was not familiar at all to any of them.

"I'm afraid not, no," Berry answered. "Why do you ask?"

Again, Meteor seemed very reluctant to answer, but convinced himself to do so. "...Calcifer is...was a former member of my guild. He was reported to have died years ago, even though his body was never found. We all assumed he was dead, and we happily did so."

"Why? What did he do?" Dust asked.

"That is only the concern of my guild," Meteor answered. "The only reason I am even mentioning his name is because...Berry, you had done something very similar that I've only witnessed a few members have done from my guild. Something that no other Pokemon outside our guild should know. The fact that you were able to pull something like that during our battle made me wonder if _Calcifer_ might be alive. While many of us would prefer if he wasn't, if by chance you do come across someone by that name, please notify the Volcanic Ash Guild."

"What Pokemon is Calcifer, if you don't mind me asking?" Dust questioned.

"A Charmeleon, but that was years ago. If he was alive, and I pray to Reshiram that he isn't, he'd most likely be a Charizard by now," Meteor explained.

At that, Berry and Dust thought the same thing; their minds immediately went to Al, the Charmeleon on Team Destruct, claiming to have amnesia. Nobody knew who Al was, or where he came from. A second thought occurred to them, one that made them worried. What if Al was lying about his amnesia the whole time and was using it as a cover up? How dangerous would Al be if he truly was Calcifer? And what Calcifer had done that would have the guild he come from wish him to be dead.

Having those thoughts, Dust decided to ask another question. "I know you said you can't go into much details about Calcifer, but was he dangerous?"

"Calcifer was powerful, but very emotionally unstable. He was unpredictable and everyone had to be careful when he was around," Meteor answered.

Berry frowned a little. "You seemed… familiar with my outburst. Do you know anything about it?"

Meteor remained silent for a while, contemplating on whether or not to answer Berry's question. After thinking over it, he nodded at Berry before answering. "If any other Pokemon had asked me, I wouldn't even bother talking with them. But since you're the first one who's ever used such a technique outside of the Volcanic Ash Guild… First, Team Silkwing, thank you for helping me to get to Team Night Tide, but I wish to speak with them privately."

"What? But it was getting to the good part!" Ivy complained.

"You are fine to stay, but I will take my leave then. I shouldn't even be talking about all this! So either you leave, or I leave," Meteor stated.

Talon saw that there would be no convincing Meteor otherwise, so he nodded. "We'll leave you be then. Will you be fine to make it back to your teammates on your own?"

"I know the way back, I'll be able to return on my own," Meteor answered. "Thank you."

Team Silkwing soon left, with Ivy still complaining about wanting to stay. After they had left, Meteor walked to the door, seeing if anyone else was coming. Seeing that no one was nearby, the Quilava closed the door and returned to Team Night Tide.

"Now before I continue, you must promise to keep this a secret. This is something that's supposed to be kept secret within the Volcanic Ash Guild. The only reason I'm even considering telling you this is because the danger and damage Berry can cause if she doesn't know the origin of her technique. So do you three promise as Crusaders to never share this with anyone?" Meteor asked, watching each member of Team Night Tide intently.

"We promise…" Dust said, a feeling of excitement coming to him to learn about something not many knew about, though it did frustrate him a little that he wasn't allowed to tell anyone else about it.

"We won't tell anyone about it, but I must know if it's a danger to Berry herself as well," Shab stated.

Berry just gave a melancholic nod.

Watching each member give their answer, Meteor gave a satisfying nod. "The Volcanic Ash Guild is one of the top guilds in these lands, our members are some of the strongest fire Pokemon among the Crusaders, but besides that not much else is known about our guild. The reason for that is because of our technique that we hold very secretive...Blazing Burst Mode."

"Blazing Burst Mode?" All three members of Team Night Tide said at the same time.

"As you most likely already know, when it comes to power, wild Pokemon are much stronger compared to civilized Pokemon. This is because they are more attuned with nature, with their instincts. They are able to draw upon the internal energy to bring about great strength. Our guild had developed the way for us to be able to tap into this energy that the wild Pokemon are able to use. It requires rigorous training, and only a few are able to truly achieve Blazing Burst Mode. Igneel is one of those few," Meteor explained.

"So what exactly does this Blazing Burst Mode do?" Dust inquired, wishing he had his notes with him so that he can write this all down.

"It varies amongst the users. Some are able to use it to enhance their physical capabilities, increasing their strengths and abilities. For others they would use all that energy for a devastating attack, just like Berry's outburst during our match. It's why I was so shocked, I recognized that pressure she gave off, that energy she was building up, and to see someone outside of my guild using our technique caused me to freeze. It's why I came here in the first place, to see if you knew anything more, but unfortunately you don't," Meteor explained.

"So what you're saying is that Berry somehow gained the ability to use a technique that is only known to your guild?" Shab asked.

Meteor nodded. "Which is why you need to be more careful now, Berry. Because while Blazing Burst Mode grants immense power to those who use it, it has a dangerous drawback, like a double edged sword."

"Wait… why am I able to use it at all?" Berry asked, sounding a little frightened and confused. "You said it took rigorous training, but I had no training in regards to this… technique, Distortion World, I didn't even know what it was."

"Something else about our guild is that there are two reason why we are only Fire types. One, only Fire types are capable of learning Blazing Burst Mode...Or at least I thought so until after our match. Which leads to our second reason, just like how moves can be passed down from parent to child, Blazing Burst Mode can only be passed down from those within the guild. Our genes are unique and are the only ones capable of receiving this technique. Igneel was born into the guild and was able to use our technique. Many who were born outside the guild have tried to master Blazing Burst Mode, but none have succeeded," Meteor finished.

"You think… maybe Berry's parents, or parent, might've been someone from the guild then?" Shab asked.

"Normally, no. One strict rule we have is that our members may only mate with other Fire types. Any who would even attempt to do so would be strictly kicked out of our guild, and that's if they are unable to use Blazing Burst Mode. Those who are able to are forbidden from leaving the guild, and so far no one has done such a thing...At least that's what I believed, but now I think otherwise. The only one who could possibly even leave the guild while knowing our technique is..._Calcifer_," Meteor said the name with disdain. "He's the only one that comes to mind as being your potential parent, Berry."

The room was silent for a moment.

"Even so…" Dust spoke up. "From what you told us, only Fire types seem capable of even using Blazing Burst Mode. Even if Berry's parent was someone from the Volcanic Ash Guild, she still shouldn't be able to use it, right? Especially since she didn't have any training regarding the technique itself."

"That is true," Meteor agreed. "Fire types naturally have an inner fire each and every one of us must bring out to even be able to attempt Blazing Burst Mode. Which is why our types are the easiest to make wild than other civilized Pokemon. The fact that Berry is able to use it without even training, however, makes me wonder… Berry, are you a wild Pokemon?"

"No?" Berry frowned. "I was hatched civilized."

"She's too delicate to be a wild Pokemon anyways," The Feebas added.

"If that were true, then what was that Goomy me and my team barely survived from earlier?" Meteor countered. "Look, I'm only sharing with you what I know and how they might relate to Berry. I also must warn you from using that technique. Without the proper training, you risk turning to your wild side. Tell me, do you remember feeling any bloodlust or any wild, irrational thoughts during our match?"

Berry frowned as she had bits and pieces of memories of what happened when she had her biggest outburst yet. She remembered a lot of water, she also remembered feeling the want, the _desire_ to not just defeat, but kill the three who had threatened her. She also remembered a bigger Pokemon in front of her that soothed her enough to calm down. It was a large orange dragon-like Pokemon, who was likely Igneel since Meteor did tell her he was the one who stopped her. She also remembered seeing a large scar on the Pokemon's back.

"That Pokemon who stopped me… Igneel, was it…? I think… I saw a scar on his back… or am I remembering that wrong?" The Goomy questioned, mostly because she didn't really want to answer Meteor's question of how she felt when she lost herself.

Meteor sensed what Berry was feeling but didn't push further, instead opting to answer her question. "No, you are right. Most think that Igneel had received those burn scars from battling a powerful Pokemon. That is the story our guild has told. But in reality, the one who had given him those scars was none other than Calcifer."

"But, why would he do such a thing?" Dust asked, he couldn't even imagine the thought of him or someone else from the guild attacking a fellow member.

"Like I mentioned before, Calcifer was powerful, but very emotionally unstable. At first we couldn't believe it, despite Calcifer's dangerous nature, he was very close with Igneel. They had trained with each other, so to find out that Calcifer not only used Blazing Burst Mode on Igneel, but he also used a taboo move on him as well," Meteor explained, each word filled with anger.

"Taboo move? Is it something like one of the banned moves?" Dust asked.

"Not exactly, while not banned, to use this move brought heavy shame to any Fire type who even dared to use it," Meteor closed his eyes as he recalled that day, showing visible anger. "Burn Up is a Fire type attack that is already devastating on its own. The only drawback is that using it causes one to lose their inner fire and they are no longer Fire types."

Dust was very curious about this move, never before had he heard of an attack that can strip one of their type. "This move sounds very rare."

"There's a reason why we call it a taboo move, no one even knows how Calcifer came to learn that move, but he ended up using it while in Blazing Burst Mode on Igneel. It's how he had gotten those burn scars on his back," Meteor said. "Even though Fire types normally can't get burns. Just goes to show how devastating that move is."

The room was silent once more, there was a lot to take in for Team Night Tide, especially for Berry. The thought of this Calcifer potentially being her father caused her to worry, as well as how dangerous she was.

"I would suggest that Berry does some training with her Blazing Burst Mode, but… without a proper mentor, that would be difficult, especially since I doubt anybody would know how to train her particular Blazing Burst Mode. She isn't a Fire type, nor did she use a Fire move," Meteor continued with a sigh.

"Couldn't one of your members at least help her with the basic or something?" Dust asked.

Meteor shook his head. "That would be impossible. If anything, that would most likely put you in more danger. Like I mentioned before, our guild holds are secrets very dearly, and there are members who wouldn't exactly be thrilled to see an outsider using their technique. Honestly I'm surprised Igneel hadn't done anything to you. I was expecting him to attack you."

Berry shivered at the idea of having the Hellfire come after her after she used the 'Blazing Burst Mode', even if it was by accident, there was a reason why he was known as the Hellfire, he was reputed to not show others mercy.

Meteor let out a sigh. "I will say though… perhaps you should find Pokemon who can help you control your wild side, perhaps learn with another wild Pokemon who was trained to be civilized like that Feebas teammate of yours. Find a Pokemon who can help with your Dragon and Water attacks. Perhaps training your unique moves one at a time may just be what you need to keep yourself in control."

"...B-but what if I don't want to control it?" Berry asked, afraid of the thought of being able to use Blazing Burst Mode.

"Whether you choose to use it or not is up to you, but...I will say this. Leaving an open flame unattended will only cause the fire to spread, burning everything around it. Keeping it intact will help maintain the flame while also preventing it from harming others," Meteor advised. "Whether you like it or not, you have this power, and the fact of the matter is, if you don't learn to control it, you can… and you _will_ lose control of yourself again. Being a Crusader is dangerous business, little Goomy, you are pretty much guaranteed to run into situations where you're put in a corner, and that will likely bring out that dangerous side of you again."

Berry deflated at that. As much as she hated the idea of even using any parts of that outburst, she couldn't deny that Meteor made a good point. If she wanted to not be a danger to those around her, she would have to learn to get control over this power, and she would prefer it would be sooner rather than later. She would _never_ forgive herself if she hurt anyone because she couldn't control it.

"Meteor, what are you doing here?" An Audino frowned, she had come into the room while Berry had deflated. "You need to get back to the bed and rest! You're going to get yourself sick by walking around like that."

"Sorry, I was just concerned about Team Night Tide, it was a pretty intense battle we had, so I wanted to check up on them," Meteor said.

"Well that's our job, you should be resting! Now come along!" Audino said.

"Team Night Tide, it was a pleasure talking with you, and remember, be careful around _fire_, especially those who cause it, best let the Volcanic Ash Guild know, our specialty is _fire _related issues," Meteor said before waving goodbye.

Dust saw Meteor as he walked out the room when suddenly the Quilava stopped, something had caught his attention. From the look of it, Meteor seemed somewhat agitated, but it was quickly dropped when the Audino told him to keep moving along. Dust was curious as to what caused Meteor to suddenly stop, but he didn't have to wait long, for a familiar face had entered the room.

"Oh my sweet Berry, you nearly gave me a heart attack!" Brody shouted as he rushed to Berry's side. "You fought so valiantly. But of course, we can't forget the noble sacrifice of Shab, he truly has done so much for you and this team."

While Dust was glad to see Brody, he was still confused why Meteor stopped and looked at his direction from earlier. Before he could say anything, Grant entered the room.

"You never cease to surprise me, Berry. Keep this up and we might have to have another rematch," Grant grinned, before noticing Berry's somber face. "Chin up, you acted like you lost the match."

Berry sighed. "It's not that, it's just… I lost control of myself. I could've really hurt… or killed Team Volcano back there…"

Grant nodded, fully aware of the battle. "Then there's a simple solution; train. Learn to better control your strength so that you know when to hold back. If you want, we can train together and I can teach you how to better use your strength. While it's good to be strong, it doesn't help if you can't control your own strength. You'll end up hurting yourself and others."

"Yeah… we got the same advice earlier," Dust chuckled.

"But I guess that wouldn't stop Berry from feeling like she's a monster." Shab frowned. "But you're not! You're far from a monster, Berry! A monster is someone who has no conscience, and would happily destroy everyone and everything around them with no regrets. You're more like the ocean. The ocean is beautiful when it's calm, and it hides many beautiful things. But it also has a dark side, it can be destructive when it's angry, and it also hides many dangerous secrets. There's nothing wrong with that, it's just a part of nature."

Though Berry still didn't like what she did, Shab's comment did make her smile a little bit.

"I'm so proud," Brody whispered, shedding a tear.

Grant just groaned, hearing Brody. Dust and Berry looked at each other, both glad to have Brody and Grant there. Their company did help lighten the mood. But then a new thought came to mind, one that caused both Dust and Berry to frown. If both Brody and Grant were here, then that would mean that _he _was here too. And just as they thought that, the last member of Team Destruct walked in. Before, whenever they saw Al, Dust and Berry always greeted the Charmeleon with a warm smile, always enjoying his company. He always gave that cheerful smile, with not a single care in the world.

But now, as Al entered the room, Dust and Berry couldn't help but think of their previous conversation with Meteor and his warnings about Calcifer. As they watch Al get closer, questions started coming to their mind. _Is Al really Calcifer? Was he lying about his amnesia the whole time and using it as a cover? And if so, how dangerous was Al, if he wasn't who he says he was? _

"Look who finally decided to wake up!" Al greeted, but stopped when he saw Dust and Berry's cautious expressions. "Yikes, you guys look like I'm about to cause a fire or something."

"With your luck, you'd probably end up doing so," Grant remarked, which caused Al only to laugh.

Shab looked at Dust and Berry before he spoke to them. "Listen… I understand your skepticism, but the fact of the matter is, this is Al. The same Charmeleon we've all come to know and love in the Unity Guild. Whether he is who Meteor said or not shouldn't matter right now. As long as Al is Al, then that is who he is."

"...You're right, if Al truly wished to harm someone, he would've done it a long time ago," Dust agreed. "Plus, like Meteor said, there's a chance this Calcifer fella is actually dead, and even if he wasn't, he did say the Charmeleon lost his flames using Burn Up. We've personally witnessed Al using fire before, so I think it's safe to assume he isn't Calcifer."

"Besides…" Berry muttered. "He looks too young to be my biological father."

"Well if we knew his actual age, that might be a different case. There have been studies showing that Pokemon have mated at a very young age and had eggs of their own, so there is a chance, a very small chance he could in fact be your father," Dust said.

"Perhaps it's best not to think about that right now," Shab sighed.

"Hey! What are you three whispering back there? Is it interesting?" Al asked. "If you guys are talking about secrets I got a good one. So one time we were on this night mission, getting really dark. It was in the forest, lots of grass and bug Pokemon. Brody got sprayed with some weird pollen that apparently made him see hallucination, except we didn't know that. So imagine all our surprise when he walks up to Grant, and without warning, kiss-"

Brody and Grant quickly shut the Charmeleon's mouth with their hands.

"Shut it, Al!" Grant snapped, his face turning red.

"That is _not_ something you should say to anyone, _ever!_" Brody shouted, his face also turning red.

Al tried to reply, but Grant and Brody held his mouth shut. Grant looked up, still blushing red. "We're heading out now. Our match is coming up soon, in case you wanted to come and watch."

"Berry, I'll be hoping to hear your cheer, along with all the other females in the stand," Brody added, who was also blushing.

Al just waved goodbye as his teammates dragged him away.

Berry and Dust just stared as Team Destruct dragged Al out of the medical room. Shab just raised an eyebrow.

"What an odd bunch, but I guess that's what makes them so lively," Dust noted.

"Could you imagine if one of them wasn't part of the team?" Shab brought up. "When it's the three of them, they somehow make it work out, but if one of them wasn't there, I can't even imagine how that team would function."

"I can see Brody mostly working in the kitchen, as for the others, I'm not sure," Dust commented before looking at Berry. "So are you feeling okay? We don't have to go watch the next match if you aren't feeling well."

"I feel horrible," Berry admitted. "Both physically and mentally. There's… a lot I need to process… I'm not sure if I'll even want to battle again when I'm done…"

Dust had a feeling this would be the case and it caused quite the dilemma. He had no desire to force Berry to do anything she didn't want to do, but at the same time, that would mean they would be struggling in their next match, or they might even have to forfeit. Dust was struggling between choosing his desire to obtain Gold Rank or supporting his friend.

"Perhaps we should watch the next match. It might help take your mind off of things," Shab suggested. "Besides, Emerald might also be looking for us. She might be able to find us easier in the stands where we can watch the match."

Berry let out a small sigh.

"Listen, Berry, as a wild Pokemon myself, I know how hard it can be to lose control to your instincts. But in my experience, the more you fight it, the harder it will become for you to control it," Shab informed. "There's no point in worrying what could've happened or what almost happened. What's done is done, and all you can do is move on and learn from it. Are you sure you really want to give up fighting? Give up being a Crusader because you're scared? Because that doesn't sound like the Berry I knew."

The Goomy frowned. She had wanted to be a Crusader for the longest time since Damp, her Quagsire mother, told her about them. She wanted to prove she could be a helpful Pokemon, a Pokemon others could admire and trust. She also liked rescuing Pokemon from what could've been a terrible fate otherwise, it made her feel nice and like she really belonged. She had been helping others since she started her Crusading career, and that included Pokemon like Dust from loneliness, and Mimi, who was now free from the mansion she had been stuck in for thousands of years. While Berry was afraid, she also realized she had done a lot of good as well. And right now, Dust needed her for this tournament.

Berry took a deep breath and let it out. "You're right, Shab. I don't know if I'll lose it again, but… I did promise to do my best as long as we're in this tournament. Thank you."

Dust smiled, seeing Berry feeling better, but then frowned when he thought about his earlier hesitation. Dust was so focused on his own goals that he couldn't think of anything to say that could've helped Berry feel better about herself. He was grateful for Shab's words, but couldn't help but feel guilty for not doing more.

Dust shook his head, seeing as he can't focus on negative thoughts now. "Well, like Shab had said, it would be best to take our mind off these things. Plus, I'm curious to see how Team Destruct will do, so far most of their matches have been pretty short, hopefully we'll see more of their abilities, maybe learn something from watching them too."

"Team Destruct is powerful, there's no doubt about that, and their teamwork is surprisingly very coordinated for a trio of Pokemon that usually fight with each other," Shab noted. "We may even have to battle them ourselves soon."

"Let's hope that if we do… I won't actually go into another outburst," Berry sighed. "Um… I'm a bit too sore to move… Dust, could you help me get on your back?"

"Of course," Dust answered as he walked up to Berry and crouched down. "Ready when you are."

Berry carefully slithered down before dropping herself onto Dust's back with a small PLOP. Shab hopped on onto Dust's back as well.

"Is your head alright enough for me to ride on, dear sweet Berry?" The Feebas asked.

Berry couldn't help but chuckle a little. "Yeah, go ahead, Shab."

"Alright, hopefully we don't miss the start of their match, I'm curious to see who they will be facing," Dust commented as he started heading towards the door with both Berry and Shab on top of him.

When Dust made it to the arena, he walked over to one of the empty stands. It was pretty far from the arena itself, but the stand was pretty high, so it was still easy to see. Berry slithered to one of the seats to sit down on herself. Shab decided to stay on the Goomy's head though.

"Looks like we made it just in time," Berry noted, seeing how Team Destruct was already in the arena.

"-And on the other side is the team that puts the ruth in ruthless, a team that believes in power and strength to overcome their opponents, we have the Silver Rank Team Crimson Raiders of the Unity Guild! Yes, both teams are from the same guild!" Patricia the Mawile announced with such energy that it made the crowd feel excited as well.

Dust couldn't believe what he heard, of all teams he wasn't expecting Team Crimson Raiders to be the ones to fight Team Destruct. "I was already curious before, but now this match had just gotten more interesting."

"I know we were pretty pumped to battle with Team Crimson Raiders before the tournament, but I hope Team Destruct pounds their faces in," Berry grumbled. "Especially Blizza's."

Dust nodded, and while he too agreed, he couldn't help but wonder how the two teams will fare against one another. "We'll just have to wait and see."

"I'd say whoever wins it's a win-win for us," Shab remarked. "After all, if Team Destruct loses, we get a crack at Team Crimson Raiders. If Team Destruct wins, then they gave a hard hit to Team Crimson Raiders for us."

"I like the way you think, Shab." Berry smiled while Shab began blushing again.

"Team Crimson Raiders, we've heard a lot of things about you," Grant spoke up. "We hear you're all pretty strong."

Then Grant eyed the flopping Magikarp that was on the side of Team Crimson Raiders. "So why do you have a Magikarp with you?"

"Let's just say we picked up a few things from watching the other guild members," Crimson grinned. "Besides, Team Night Tide had a Feebas on their team, and look at how well that's turned out for them so far."

"True, the Feebas had been surprisingly helpful. But unlike a Feebas, a Magikarp can only use Splash or Tackle, not really one for versatile uses like the Feebas," Grant pointed out.

"Grant, we shouldn't underestimate them, they managed to get this far, so I wouldn't be surprised if that Magikarp is a lot stronger than he seems," Brody advised.

"Oh? Didn't you notice how white the whiskers are on the Magikarp?" Crimson asked.

"What does that have to do with anything?" Brody asked while Grant frowned.

"If you're too ignorant to know, you'll be finding out later," Blizza spoke up. "Now enough of this boring talk! Let's get started already!"

"I'm with the dragon, I'm itching to get started too!" Al nodded.

"Looks like things are already heating up before the battle has even started. Are both teams ready?!" Patricia asked, both teams nodding in confirmation. "Then begin!"

* * *

**Oragonking****: DarkFoxKit:** Thankfully I can still write, but I don't know how our schedule will look in the future.

**Guest #1****: DarkFoxKit:** Yeah… unfortunately it is because someone is sick. I have a treatment scheduled, and it's likely to leave me very fatigued for a while.

**FoxyKhai0209****: Traveling Master: **Thank you for your concerns, we been keeping track of it ever since it started. DF has been going through a lot, but it helps seeing all the support she's been getting from you and all the others.

**Lonelyboi69****: DarkFoxKit:** It's been pretty rough on me, and I hope it will be over soon. But we're trying not to let that stop us from writing. I'm also happy to hear you really like Crusaders of Dusk. It's a good story that we put a lot of time and effort into as well.

**Star Virgo****: Traveling Master: **We've been managing so far. The times we can write, we usually do our best, cause we enjoy writing this story, and we don't want to disappoint any of you either. It just depends on how things develop, but we'll continue trying to write. Thank you and glad to hear that you enjoy this story very much.

**Star Libra****: DarkFoxKit:** There are surprisingly a lot of 'star' people reviewing on here. As for what's wrong… possible cancer, but thankfully it's only in stage 1, so it should be able to be treated fairly easily, even if it means I may never have children of my own.

**Star Scorpio****: Traveling Master: **Well itch no more! Cause as the tournament progressing, things will get more and more intense!

**Greatest Guy****: DarkFoxKit:** Dio is just a very enthusiastic reporter, but who knows, sometimes the one you least expect is the culprit, right?

Team Rocket for the win. XP

**Chihiro:** PUNish! That's a good one! I need to write that one down the next time someone needs to be punished~

**Traveling Master: **Stop feeding her ideas! She'll become too powerful! In puns! Also, Suicune, never thought about that. Not gonna lie. While in the game Suicune doesn't have a specific gender, as do most Legendary Pokemon, doesn't mean it's not possible story wise. So who knows, maybe you are right, just gotta wait and see.

**Jewel moonstone****: DarkFoxKit:** Thank you. And hope you have better days yourself.

**Star Sagittarius****: DarkFoxKit: **Hello, Star, again. Stuff happened, yeah. Someone captured Emerald, yeah. Hope you enjoyed the chapter.

**Star Capricorn****: Traveling Master: **Welp, the only clue we got is that Emerald saw a pair of red eyes. I guess that narrows it down to ***Looks at list of Pokemon with Red eyes* **...Yeah, I'm not gonna count that. So like you said, just gonna have to wait and see.

**Jojo's Bizarre****: DarkFoxKit: *Shakes head* **I'm not even going to touch this one. TM, this is all yours. You made the reference, now you gotta pay the consequences for it.

**Traveling Master: **Love the analogy, that part always was wild in the show. Again, as I mentioned last time, if an idea comes up that works for the story, then we might through in another reference. Or we might not, just depends, but I will keep in mind some of your suggestion. Who knows, maybe Dust and Berry will run into Dialga who just happens to shout "Zu Warudo." XD

**lonleyboi68****: DarkFoxKit:** We're still writing despite what happened, we only made the announcement in case we may not be able to write as much, or be able to update as much as we wanted.

**Dust:** Ha, ha, ha, as if I hadn't heard _that_ pun to death already…

**DarkFoxKit:** You binge read my Child of Mew series? I have to commend you for that. Especially since early on, the grammar and spelling were a huge mess. I was also still figuring out how to use fanfiction at the time. Thank you for your words of encouragement.

**Tuesday****: Traveling Master: **WE'VE GONE TOO FAR AT THIS POINT! WE CAN'T STOP NOW WITH TEAM ROCKET! JUST WAIT AND SEE WHAT WE HAVE PLANNED FOR THEM LATER!

**Guest #2****: DarkFoxKit:** I'm just hoping I can put all this behind me soon so I don't have to keep worrying about it. To be frank, the internet diagnosis is less stressful than the doctor's. But thank you.  
Heh, who knows, maybe Dio was an inspiration from Giovanni, maybe not, it could just be a coincidence. :3

**Traveling Master: **Fair enough, don't want to accidentally spoil it for others on the chance that you might be right. But to help with your theory, remember, Berry did explain how Wooper and Quagsire's slime have toxins within them. So being raised and surrounded by Wooper and Quagsire for most of her life caused her slime to also have traces of poison within. Unless that was part of your theory, hmmmmm. Well, hope that helps, theories are fun, especially once we learn the truth and we see how close our theories actually were.

**The Moonfox Collective****: DarkFoxKit:** We actually decided that's what the Lucernas Guild does at the last minute, to give Emerald a reason why she needed help finding her teammates, and why her guildmaster wasn't helping her or stopping the tournament. But yes, it was also kinda cool to see what Berry and Dust thought of the whole 'Power is Everything' line of thinking, which wouldn't surprise me is what a lot of guilds go by since they would only allow certain Pokemon into their guild, unlike Unity Guild which welcomes all Pokemon.

Heh, good that you don't have a clue, that means we're doing a good job keeping the real villain here vague. We don't want people figuring it out so soon after all.

**Guest #3****: DarkFoxKit:** Thank you, I hope to get better soon too.

**ChloeTheKitsune****: Traveling Master: **Well things are looking good for Emerald right now, can't make any promises, just gonna have to wait and see.

**ArcherAmpharos****: DarkFoxKit:** I don't know if it's a good treatment, but it's been the only 'best' treatment I've been presented with. And let's just say if I take it, I won't ever have children of my own. But I guess I'd rather take that then get an early death… But still, I'm hoping it won't stop me from writing, because it is my passion, and I do want to keep updating these stories I've poured my heart and soul into for you guys to read and enjoy as well. And thank you.

Heh, Team Rocket and Team Ice Climbers was something we did for fun actually, especially since we based Team Rocket off of the Team Rocket trio in the anime, and wanted them to win for once. It was also nice bringing Eclipse back, and as for her reaction to Cliff… hehehehehe, let's just say Dust may see Giartina again very soon~ Also, I am a Paper Mario Thousand Year Door nerd. So yes, a lot of this tournament was actually inspired by Chapter 3 of TTYD.

**Traveling Master: **I actually finished that chapter recently, great chapter, love the game, still playing Thousand Year Door and loving every bit of it.

**Star Aquarius****: Traveling Master: **That's a good theory, who knows, maybe Brody will sense that Emerald is in trouble. Just remember, both Emerald and Berry had trouble trying to sense where Icy was at some point. Maybe Emerald might be able to reach Brody, maybe not. Just gonna have to keep on reading and see what happens next.

**Guest #4****: DarkFoxKit:** … No, the missing Pokemon has nothing to do with that alternate version of Dust.

**Traveling Master: **I think I mentioned back when we first showed that alternate version of Dust. So to explain, way before me and DarkFoxKit started working together on this story, I had many ideas for Dust. Some where he ended up in the human world, others where he was an immortal Absol. That alternate version of Dust was just one of the more...darker ideas I had for him. So nothing really related to the actually story that is going on right now.

**RollingDisco****: DarkFoxKit:** Ah, yes, I remember that blue-eyed Pikachu. I think that Pikachu is what inspired the Alolan Raichu design, both having blue eyes and both are surfing electric mice. As for Emerald's green eyes… the person who sent me Emerald's bio says that it's a mutation, and apparently she has some kind of healing capabilities. They might have more, but we probably won't go into deep details about it since Emerald isn't our main character.

**Traveling Master: **Alright, I think that's about it. How are we looking, Dust?

**Dust: **Looks like we lost them, and I don't see any signs of DarkFoxKit, so I think we are in the clear.

**Traveling Master: **Great, now let's get back to Paper Mario!

**DarkFoxKit: *Gleefully stalks them in the shadows* ** You can't escape from me and the story, boys~

***Both Traveling Master and Dust hug each other as we scream before the screen cuts out.***


	30. Chapter 30: The Quarter Finals Pt 2

**DarkFoxKit:** Hey, everyone, so we may need to warn you our updates are going to slow down for a bit. This is mostly due to real life situations that are out of our control, like my treatment for one. Apparently it's going to leave me very tired, and it's going to make it difficult for me to focus on writing as much until it's over, and from what I've heard, this treatment is going to last for about a month.

**Traveling Master: **We'll write when we can, but we just wanted to let you know just what's going on. The story may slow down a bit, but don't worry, we'll still work on it. It just might not be as often, unfortunately.

**DarkFoxKit:** TM might also have some stuff going on out of his control as well. We will try to write when we're able to, but try to be patient with us. If you're reading this in the future, like maybe the far future, then congrats, you don't have to wait, the story is likely, and hopefully, complete and you can just ignore this AN and breeze on by. XP

**Traveling Master: **For now, enjoy the chapter, things are building up in this tournament.

**DarkFoxKit:** Now on to gaming. ***Holds up the Pokeball 2DS she was too tempted to get even though she had a perfectly good Pikachu new 3DS*** … What? The Pokeball was too tempting to ignore. This is what I get for being a Poke nerd.

**Traveling Master: **I'm not judging. *I said as I start up a Pokemon game on my laptop*

* * *

**Chapter 30: The Quarter Finals Pt. 2**

As soon as Patricia had instigated the match, Blizza and Al were the first to make their moves. Both combatants rushed towards each other, their claws giving off a glow as they prepared to use Dragon Claw. The two attacks collided, causing Al and Blizza to stop the other in their tracks, their claws locked in with the other.

"Heh, now don't go holding back on me because I'm female," Blizza smirked.

"Wait? You're a girl?" Al asked.

Blizza glared at the Charmeleon before she kicked him in the stomach. "Of course I'm a girl, you idiot!"

"Always rushes into things, though it's for the best he handles Blizza," Brody remarked. "Grant, I'll go for Crimson while you take care of that Magikarp."

"You're joking, right? Why give me the weakest Pokemon in all known existence?" The Grovyle huffed. "You two can handle this one."

"Grant!" Brody shouted.

Grant ignored Brody as he grabbed their bag with items and went to the far edge of the arena and sat down. "I'll be cheering you on! Let me know if you want a berry or something."

Brody rolled his eyes at Grant before he looked back at Crimson and the Magikarp. He did say not to underestimate them, but the Magikarp didn't seem any different than any other Magikarp Brody had seen. Brody decided to focus on the Zoroark then.

"Come at me then, if you think you can." Crimson smirked.

Brody was confident in his own abilities, and he knew he had the type advantage over Crimson, but that didn't mean he would let down his guard. He started off by firing an Aura Sphere at Crimson. Crimson was hit by the Aura Sphere, but Brody was a bit confused when he saw that Crimson didn't seem as hurt as he thought he would be. Crimson looked calm and focused. Crimson did take out an Oran Berry from his bag and munched on it though, erasing whatever damage Brody did to him with that Aura Sphere.

"You're going to have to do better than that, Brody," Crimson taunted.

Brody frowned as he focused on Crimson. _I may not know what you're planning, but if range attacks won't work, then I better go in close._

Brody then formed a long blue glowing bone stick in his paws, as he started charging towards Crimson. Crimson suddenly picked up the Magikarp by its tail and held it in front of him like a shield. Brody frowned at seeing this, feeling rather angry Crimson would use his own teammate as a meat shield. With no hesitation, Brody leaped forward, preparing to use Bone Rush on the Magikarp, but just as he was about to swing and make contact, his arms suddenly locked, stopping him from finishing his attack.

Brody was confused as he struggled to attack the Magikarp. His body suddenly jumped back on its own. Brody had a look of disbelief, but quickly shook his head, charging once more. Just like last time, Crimson held up the Magikarp as a shield as Brody brought down his attack, only for him to suddenly stop in place. The bone disappeared between Brody's paws as his body was slightly shaking.

"What's wrong, Brody? Having trouble hitting a female?" Crimson sarcastically asked.

The Magikarp then spoke for the first time, having a feminine voice. "Hello, my name is Levi, short for Leviathan~"

While normally Brody would devote all his attention to whenever he met a new female, right now he was glaring at Crimson. "How did you know?"

"You should really be careful on where you tell your little secret to," Crimson replied. "The guild's cafeteria isn't exactly a private place, you know, even if it was empty at the time when you told Team Night Tide about your little curse."

Brody mentally smacked himself, knowing he should've been more cautious. But it was already too late, Crimson had exploited his weakness.

Grant frowned as he was watching this, seeing that Brody couldn't hit Crimson due to Levi. Levi didn't seem to mind that Crimson was using her as a shield either. Grant knew Levi was female when he saw how white her whiskers were, but he thought Al would at least be able to roast the fish before it became a problem. Evidently not, since Al was still duking it out with the Hakamo-o, who was also female.

_Looks like I may need to help Brody after all. Of course a Magikarp would have to be more troublesome than it's worth…_ The Grovyle sighed as he stood up.

Grant went over to Crimson and Levi. "Stand back, Brody. Since you can't fight as long as that Magikarp is conscious, I'll take her out quickly for you."

"Oi, if you think you can take me out just because I'm a Magikarp, then you got another thing coming!" Levi challenged.

Crimson smirked as he tossed Levi into the air. Grant's leaves on his arms turned into a long blade and he jumped at Levi. Levi was struck, and normally a Magikarp wouldn't survive a Leaf Blade from Grant. However, to Grant's shock, Levi was still conscious if barely. She grinned.

"I guess… you missed the Focus Sash on my tail," Levi stated before she slammed her tail into Grant's surprised face, and slapped him silly. She was using Flail, and at low health, her Flail attack was at its max. The attack sent Grant crashing towards the ground due to how strong it was. As Grant hit the ground, it caused cracks to appear.

"Grant!" Brody shouted, shocked to see Grant take such a strong attack.

Patricia was about to check to see if Grant was unconscious, when he started getting up slowly. "...Alright, I give you props, you're a lot stronger than you look. Now this is a challenge I've been looking forward to!"

"Too bad you won't get the chance," Crimson said from behind Grant, catching him off guard.

Before the Grovyle could react, Crimson opened his mouth as flames started to come out. Everyone was surprised as Crimson unleashed Flamethrower on Grant, who took the full force of the fire attack. Grant let out a cry of pain as he fell to the ground. Grant could normally take a good punishment or two, but after Levi's Flail attack, combined with a very close range and critical hit from Crimson's Flamethrower, Grant was out cold.

"I didn't know Zoroark could learn Flamethrower!" Shab said, surprised to see the attack.

Dust was equally as surprised. "Apparently they can...but...his attack seemed a lot stronger than a regular one. Why is his Flamethrower like that?"

"Had he always been able to use Flamethrower…?" Berry frowned.

"Who knows, in our last battle, he only used Sucker Punch," Dust commented.

Al had paused after seeing Grant go down. He was surprised to see Grant to be the first one to get knocked out. Suddenly he felt something hard hit his face, sending his body back a few feet.

"Don't get distracted! It'll cost you in a fight!" Blizza snapped.

Al quickly got up while rubbing the side of his face. "Mon, that was some attack, and sorry about earlier, just surprised that my teammate got knocked out. Now where were we?"

Blizza frowned. "Why don't you stop holding back already? I'm sick of you going easy on me!"

Al frowned as he scratched the back of his head. "Again, sorry, but...you don't want me to go all out, trust me."

"And why the Distortion World not!? I can't truly say I won if you won't stop holding back!" Blizza snapped.

Al took a moment to look at the others, seeing Crimson toss an Oran Berry to Levi, Brody unable to attack her because of his condition. With Grant gone, things did seem a bit more difficult now. Al remained silent for a moment, trying to decide what he should do next. Blizza, annoyed that Al wasn't taking this match seriously, decided to charge at the Charmeleon with Dragon Claw. Just as she was about to make contact, Al stopped her attack with his own Dragon Claw.

"You're right, I shouldn't be holding back," Al replied as he pushed Blizza back. "From this point on, I'll be going all out!"

"Good! Now give me your best shot!" Blizza challenged.

Brody picked up the bag of items from the unconscious Grant, and tried to weigh his options. He couldn't attack as long as Crimson had Levi with him, but maybe he could still use items.

"Using a female as shield, that's dirty, Crimson," Brody hissed.

"I'm a Dark type, what did you expect? Our types are known for fighting dirty. And it isn't against tournament rules," Crimson sneered.

"But you're willing to go so far as to use someone's weakness against them?" Brody asked, still angry that Crimson knew his secret.

"In battle anything can happen, it doesn't matter how the battle plays. The only thing that matters is that in the end, there's only a winner, and a loser," Crimson answered.

"Besides, if you can't hit a female, you're as good as deadweight," Levi added.

"That sounded a bit harsh there… it's not Brody's fault he can't hit girls." Berry frowned.

"That Magikarp…" Shab frowned.

"Do you know her?" Dust asked.

"No, I don't know _her_. But I think I know what kind of school she came from," Shab stated. "By that I mean a school of fish, not an actual building of education. Levi appears to be a wild Pokemon, like me. And from that way she's talking, she likely came from the Destructive Gyarados School. They're best known for their very destructive nature, embracing their power and temper to create chaos and strength. They like scaring other Pokemon away to expand their territory. They're quite a harsh bunch."

"Well that does explain why they have someone like that Magikarp on their team," Dust noted. "Hopefully Brody and Al can manage to turn things around."

Brody dug into the item bag and took out a Wonder Orb. _Please let this work…_

"What do you plan to do now, hmmm?" Crimson asked, confident that the battle was pretty much in the bag.

"Why don't you come and find out for yourself," Brody countered as he took a defensive stance.

"Alright, I'm game, let's see how you plan on beating us," Crimson grinned.

Levi was using Splash to move closer to Crimson, making her jump high with each Splash she used. Brody quickly held up his Wonder Orb before she could get to Crimson. The Wonder Orb turned out to be a Blowback Orb, and Brody was using it on himself. The orb glowed blue, and Brody felt his body suddenly being thrown by an invisible force right at the bouncing Magikarp. It threw her back from Crimson more, and Brody was on top of her. Thinking fast, Brody took out a seed.

"I apologize for this. But this is necessary," Brody said to Levi as he started to bring the seed to his mouth.

Sensing what Brody was about to do, Crimson quickly fired off Flamethrower at the Lucario, hoping to stop him before he could use the Blast Seed. Brody saw the attack coming and was about to jump out of the way, but then his body refused to move. He then realized that if he tried to dodge the attack, Levi would be in harm's way. Tried as he might, his body refused to move, and unfortunately as the flames reached Brody, the Flamethrower caused the Blast Seed he was holding to explode.

Smoke filled the arena after the explosion, even Blizza had stopped, surprised by what had happened. Everyone waited in anticipation as the smoke cleared away. Crimson cautiously walked to where Brody and Levi were, trying to see through the smoke. As it finally cleared, Crimson was surprised to see Brody, but no sign of Levi, but upon closer look he saw that the Lucario had tried covering Levi from the blast, though it seemed that both Brody and Levi were unconscious.

"Who would've thought that curse of yours would prove to be so useful," Crimson whispered. "But I have to admit, you have guts."

"Incredible, even though they were opponents, Brody had surprisingly tried protecting his opponent, but it looks like those two were still knocked out, leaving only Al left!" Patricia announced as two Chansey came and took Brody and Levi away, as well as Grant.

"Tch, that Lucario gets what he deserved, he shouldn't even be a Crusader if he has a weakness like that," Blizza said before she saw something move out of the corner of her eye and reacted by blocking with her arms. Just then Al had punched her with electricity covering his arms. "Oh, did I struck a nerve?"

Al didn't reply, jumping away from Blizza as he continued to glare at her.

"What? No witty comeback? Are you upset that your sorry excuse for a partner got knocked out?" Blizza taunted.

Al still remained silent, though he then looked to see Crimson, expecting him to come assist Blizza, but the Zoroark simply crossed his arms.

"Oh, you don't have to worry about me, Blizza had already made it clear she doesn't want my help, though I'm sure she wouldn't even need it in the first place," Crimson sneered.

Al returned his gaze back to Blizza as she continued to smirk at him. Al sighed before finally speaking up. "You asked why I was holding back earlier, and I told you that you wouldn't want me to go all out."

"Yeah, and so far you failed to impress me, I thought you were going to go all out, but it still feels like you're holding back!" Blizza shouted.

"Alright, let me show you what happens when I go all out," Al replied.

"It's about time! And once I'm done with you," Blizza then turned to where Berry was sitting and pointed right at her. "You're next!"

Berry frowned, not liking that Blizza was signaling her out. She was mostly self conscious, especially after what happened in her last battle.

"Weren't you the one who kept saying not to take your eyes off your opponent?" Al asked.

Blizza looked back at Al and was confused when she saw that he was on all fours. Before Blizza could ask what the heck Al was doing, the Charmeleon opened his mouth as he let loose a powerful Flamethrower, much bigger compared to Crimson's own flames. Blizza only had time to brace herself as she defended against the fire attack. The flames managed to push her back, but she held her ground. Once the fire had ceased, her body was steaming, but she was still standing.

"Was that supposed to be your best attack?" Blizza taunted, but then was confused when she saw no sign of Al anywhere.

Blizza was on guard, trying to find the Charmeleon, but saw no sign of him anywhere. She walked towards where she last saw Al and then noticed something odd in the distance. Upon closer look she saw there was a hole in the ground. Just then, Blizza suddenly had the sensation as though a predator was watching her, waiting for the right moment to strike. As she turned around she saw Al burst from the ground, claws glowing as he was closing the distance between the two of them. And just like prey that couldn't escape from the predator, Blizza didn't have enough time to defend herself as Al brought down his claws to Blizza's head. As Al's attack made contact, he slammed Blizza head first into the ground.

As soon as Al finished his Dragon Claw attack, he stood up and backed away for a moment as Patricia went over to Blizza to check on her.

"Blizza is out cold!" Patricia announced. "Looks like it's a one on one between Crimson from Team Crimson Raiders, and Al from Team Destruct!"

The crowd started to cheer as Blizza was taken away by the medical team, leaving only Al and Crimson. Dust had never seen Al fought like that before, surprised that the Charmeleon took on such a wild form.

"If I hadn't met Al before, I would've assumed he was a wild Pokemon just now," Dust commented.

"Maybe he _is _Calcifer…" Berry muttered. "Considering that Meteor told us members of the Volcanic Ash Guild embraces on using their inner wild side."

"Guys, don't forget what I said earlier, Al is our friend, whatever his past may be, it doesn't change who he is now," Shab spoke up, hoping to reassure his teammates.

"Maybe not, but it does shed some light on how he fights, and why he acts the way he does…" Dust remarked, mostly with interest.

Al turned his attention to Crimson. "Well, I tried to warn her. I still don't truly know my own strength though."

Crimson, instead of being angry, was slowly clapping, though in a condescending way. "Well I'm impressed, even I wasn't expecting you to use such a...unique fighting style. But don't think it will work on me."

Al grinned as he got on all fours like last time. "Only one way to find out!"

Al then charged at Crimson, closing the distance between them. When Al was close enough, he leaped forward as electricity started coursing from his arm. But just before Al could use Thunder Punch, Crimson suddenly appeared in front of Al as the Zoroark delivered a Sucker Punch to Al's face, knocking him back. As Al landed on his back, Crimson crossed his arms as he smirked at the Charmeleon.

"You're gonna have to do better than that," Crimson taunted.

Al quickly got up, trying to think of a way to attack. "Alright, let's try this then!"

Al then dug into the ground as he burrowed beneath the arena. Crimson immediately went on guard, though unlike Blizza, he was prepared for Al's upcoming attack. Seconds later the ground behind Crimson started to shift. Crimson, already prepared, stepped to the side as Al burst from the ground. Al was shocked to see Crimson by his side, and before he could recover, the Zoroark dealt another heavy blow, this time hitting Al on his side.

"You are strong, I'll give you that, but all that strength means nothing if I can easily read your attacks," Crimson taunted.

"Read my attacks, huh…" Al said as he slowly got up, wincing a bit from the pain coming from his side. But then an idea popped in his head. "Oh...I wonder…"

"Doesn't matter what you try, it won't work," Crimson remarked.

Al didn't answer, instead he started digging in the ground once more. Crimson only shook his head, already preparing for when the Charmeleon would attack him. Though unlike last time where Al attacked shortly after going into the ground, Al had remained beneath the arena. Crimson assumed Al was just waiting for him to drop his guard, which he found foolish. After a bit, Crimson felt the ground shake and was expecting Al's attack to come but suddenly Al climbed out of the hole where he originally had entered.

"You sure took your time, decided that it was a waste of time digging?" Crimson asked in a taunting manner.

"Oh, I wouldn't call it a waste, though you should be focusing on the ground instead of me," Al grinned.

"What are you-" Crimson started until the ground started shaking more.

Crimson realized what Al had done as the ground around him started to crumble apart. He saw parts of the arena were starting to fall beneath the earth. Though initially surprised, Crimson smirked as he started hopping from different pieces of the arena. As Crimson jumped from one spot to another, the ground continued to give way, but he didn't falter. He finally reached a spot that was outside of Al's trap.

"Too bad, though you were pretty close-" Crimson started, only to have Al punch him in the face with Thunder Punch.

"Come on, Pokemon, it takes a while to have to fix the arena if you decide to mess it up like that!" Patricia complained.

"Heh, sorry about that," Al apologized while smiling. "That wasn't my intention, I was just trying to make the ground shake beneath him, didn't think it would actually start falling apart."

"Well, you certainly weren't lying when you said you didn't know you're own strength," Crimson muttered. "But I will admit, you are strong. To be able to take out my partner Blizza like that… how are you not a Charizard already?"

Al paused for a moment before shrugging. "I don't know. Well since you asked a question, how about I ask one? We can go back and forth. So I can already tell you're strong, and your team is pretty impressive, so why resort to exploiting Brody's weakness?"

"Why take the unnecessary risk when I have a way to win the match without taking damage at all? In a battle, it doesn't matter how you win, just as long as you win, that is the Dark type's way," Crimson answered.

"You have a point, but from what I heard, Team Crimson Raiders are all about strength and power, so I find it kinda odd you using such tactics. I mean, kinda makes it seem like you're actually weak," Al pointed out, though not in a condescending way, but more as just being curious.

"You wouldn't understand-" Crimson tried explaining, only for Al to cut him off.

"What's there to understand? You say you're strong, but rely on using tricks. You say you're Dark type, but I've fought with Dark types before, and yeah, they use similar tactics, but they don't boast about their strengths. They knew they had to rely on their cunning tactics to make up for their lack of strengths," Al reasoned. "Then again, maybe Dark types are really strong, but if that were true, they wouldn't really need to use any tricks."

"Enough!" Crimson was annoyed with Al and charged at him.

Al was not expecting Crimson to come straight for him but he held his ground as the Zoroark delivered an attack to his face, but to Crimson's surprise, Al held his ground as he glared at Crimson.

"Looks like someone's feeling pretty sensitive," Al remarked. "Maybe you don't want to admit that you would need to use tactics because you're not as strong as you boast you are?"

Crimson jumped back away from Al, getting more annoyed with the Charmeleon. He was also expecting Al to counter attack, but the Charmeleon didn't come.

"Also, I've been wondering about this, but why don't you use your illusions?" Al asked.

"That's none of your business. Now how about you shut up and get back to fighting?" Crimson yelled.

Al didn't attack, instead he continued with his questions. "Is it because you can't use illusions? Or maybe you suck at making them? I guess that explains why you decided to use Brody's weakness against him. Still, not a very good excuse. If you're bad at illusions, you should've just focused on getting stronger, like you claim to be. That way you can make up for your weakness."

Something seemed to snap inside the Zoroark. He suddenly gave a wide, sinister grin. "You think my illusions are bad? Well then, I guess you have nothing to worry about then."

Suddenly, everything around Al seemed to have gotten dark, and the ground under him began to move on its own. There were suddenly hundreds of Crimsons surrounding the Charmeleon. All of them were laughing maniacally.

"Woah! That's pretty awesome," Al admitted. "But...if you can do something like this, why hold back? Honestly you could've easily used this without having to use your previous tricks."

"SHUT UP!" All of the Crimsons shouted before a dark, shadowy beam launched at Al.

Al was too disorientated to move, and the destructive beam was coming from all over the place, he couldn't tell where to go without running directly into the beam. His instincts were all disorientated as well. Al gave a yelp as the beam slammed into his body before exploding.

As smoke covered the arena from the explosion, Crimson's illusions of himself started to fade away until only he remained. He was breathing hard, having used such a powerful attack. He grinned to himself, thinking that the annoying Charmeleon was finally defeated, but was shocked when the smoke cleared and Al was still standing, though barely. His right eye was closed, his body looked heavily damaged as his breathing was hard. Al then turned to Crimson and gave him a look that caused a chill to go down the Zoroark's spine.

Al continued to glare at Crimson until suddenly he smiled, confusing the Zoroark even more. "...Looks like...you really are...strong...Too bad...it took you...this...long to...actually...show it."

Al then fell to the ground, the flame on his tail was a bit small, showing he wasn't conscious.

"Al of Team Destruct is out cold!" Patricia announced. "Team Crimson Raiders is the winner!"

Crimson was still shaken up from Al's recent glare, but quickly recovered after the crowd had started cheering. He didn't say anything as he glared at the unconscious Charmeleon, laying on the ground. He finally looked away and started leaving, despite having won he only felt bitter inside.

Dust, Berry and Shab were speechless. While Dust had been looking forward to having a rematch with Crimson, he was still shocked to see Team Destruct lose.

"Looks like we might end up fighting Team Crimson Raiders after all," Dust finally said.

"I'm suddenly not really looking forward to that fight…" Berry groaned. "Blizza is going to be so mad, and she's likely to take it out on me."

"I'll make sure she doesn't do that to you," Shab promised.

"No, Shab. You've already sacrificed yourself enough for me, I don't want to see you getting hurt again." Berry frowned.

"And that concludes the Quarter Finals," Patricia shouted into her mic. "And what better way than to end after watching such an amazing match. Before we had a total of 8 teams, now we are down to the final four. Originally we were going to continue on with the Semi-Finals today, but because of the damage done to the arena, we will have to postpone the next match until tomorrow. So make sure you all get a good night's rest, cause as soon as morning comes, we'll be ready to continue on with the tournament!"

"Ah, this will give us a good chance to fully recover before our next match," Dust noted. "And check on Team Destruct."

"What about Emerald? We haven't seen or heard from her since yesterday," Shab reminded.

"Yeah… I would've thought she'd at least come find us after our match was over…" Berry frowned. "I… didn't… scare her off, did I?"

"I highly doubt it, plus, our match was the first one of the day, so even if she happened to be scared, I'm sure by now she would've remembered that we offered to help look for her friends," Dust suggested. "Maybe she just decided to get a headstart and couldn't wait for us."

"Then we'll continue our own investigation after we check in on Team Destruct," Berry decided.

"Don't you need more rest first, Berry? You did still seem quite tired," Shab asked in concern.

"I'll be fine. If Pokemon are going missing, then it's likely Team Destruct might start disappearing too," Berry said.

"Then we best hurry and check on them," Dust stated as he waited for Berry and Shab to climb on his back. Once Berry slithered onto his back and Shab hopped onto Berry's head, Dust started heading towards the exit.

Meanwhile, as the stands were clearing out, Chihiro stretched out. "Whew, those matches were quite intense. One could even say it was pretty _wild_! Am I right?~"

Cliff and Spooks were laughing while Phantom, and the rest of the Pokemon with Chihiro, groaned.

"Your puns are a waste of time, Chihiro," A Garchomp said.

"Well isn't this a surprise. I was wondering when you would come and say hi, Chopper," Chihiro greeted.

"You could've always just said 'hi' to me," The Garchomp named 'Chopper' rolled his eyes before he looked at the Larvitar.

Cliff backed away a little nervously at Chopper's stare.

"Interesting… when did you get a Larvitar?" Chopper asked.

"Oh, she's not mine, but one of my Crusaders accidentally brought back her egg, thinking it was a rock. You should've seen the look on his face, I'd say it was an _eggcellent _moment!" Chihiro laughed once more at her clever pun.

"You've never changed, you're still that pun loving fool that you've always been. It's no wonder your guild is so infamous," Chopper grumbled.

"Excuse me, but I believe _my_ own guild are the ones in the semi-finals while yours lost on the first day," Chihiro pointed out.

Chopper growled at that. "The team who battled were _weak_, if they lost to that team with the weak Goomy and Feebas, then they don't deserve to participate in this tournament!"

Chihiro shook her head. "Same old, stubborn Garchomp. You're still like the first time we met, quick to judge, always failing to see the potential in those you called _weak_. Your team had fought valiantly, just as my team and every other team that had participated in this tournament. Now is there a specific reason why you decided to show up, beside sharing this _pleasant _reunion?"

"Yeah!" A younger voice shouted, trying hard to sound all intimidating and angry. "Dad and I have been watching you spoiling that Larvitar. She's never going to get strong if you treat her like that! And it frustrates us!"

Chihiro, Phantom, and Spooks looked down to see a Gible was standing there. He was almost the same size as Cliff if not a little bit bigger.

"Hey, Grandma hasn't been spoiling Cliff, neither has Dust or Berry. They've been raising her and she's been getting stronger while under their care!" Phantom shouted while glaring at the Gible.

"Oh yeah? And I'll bet that Absol just carries her around like he does with that Goomy, right? She'll never be any stronger if he just gives her rides!" The Gible snapped.

Phantom flew down at the Gible so they were eye level. "You saw how they fought with the team that came from _your_ oh so prestigious guild of hardknocks, and how they won, you have no right to say whether or not Cliff will get stronger with how they raise her!"

The Gible moved closer to Phantom. "They must've cheated then, or that team was too weak because they didn't train enough!"

Phantom moved closer as well, causing both of their heads to touch each other. "Oh yeah? If you're so confident, then why don't _you_ battle with Team Night Tide yourself since they're apparently _weak_ in your eyes?"

"Maybe I will!" Gible snapped.

"I'd like to see you try and get the floor mopped with you!" Phantom growled as they were now starting to push each other.

"Alright, that's enough out of you two!" Chihiro put her tail between the two young dragons.

"Let them fight so that my son can prove that he is stronger than your grandchild," Chopper challenged.

Chihiro sighed before looking back at Chopper. "I would've hoped by now we would've come to at least some kind of understanding, but now it seems the youth is picking up on our habits."

"You make that sound like it's a bad thing." Chopper grinned.

"Surely you didn't come to talk to me just because of one Larvitar and to stir up trouble between our children, because that would be petty, even for you," Chihiro grumbled.

"No, there are more pressing matters I wish to talk with you, alone," Chopper replied.

This surprised Chihiro, usually whenever Chopper confronted her, he always did it in front of a crowd, so to suddenly wish to speak with her alone was something Chihiro wasn't expecting.

"What is it then?" The Dragapault questioned as Phantom flew up beside her.

"Like I said, this is something I wish to speak with you, alone, from one Guildmaster to another," Chopper stated.

Chihiro stared at Chopper, wondering if he was up to something but then sighed. "Spooks, Phantom, take Cliff with you until after I'm done speaking with Chopper."

"Are you sure, Grandma?" Spooks asked. He was always concerned whenever Chihiro got serious, it usually meant something or someone was in trouble.

"Don't worry, this will only take a minute," Chihiro smiled at her grandchildren.

"Come on, Spooks, Grandma will be okay," Phantom reassured her brother. "We'll be waiting outside, Grandma. Ready Cliff?"

Cliff looked at Chihiro, worried about her but nodded before following after Phantom and Spooks as they left the room.

"Chompy, wait outside until I'm done," Chopper told the Gible.

"But Dad, I want to see you teach her a lesson!" Chompy the Gible wined.

"Now!" Chopper yelled, causing his son to flinch.

Chompy quickly nodded before heading out the room.

"Well, now we're alone, what is it that you needed to talk to me about?" Chihiro asked.

"As you most likely have heard, there have been rumors in the past about disappearing Pokemon during these tournaments. I didn't put much thought into it, especially since there were reports of them returning a few days later," Chopper explained. "But then after the first match, shortly after Team Aura Force had lost, their team leader had told me that one of their teammates went missing. I didn't care at the time, figuring it would by like those reports before and that they would show up later. Instead of showing up, I find out that their second member went missing. And now even Emerald had failed to show up last night, so I'm starting to suspect these rumors may be more than just rumors."

"Hmm…" Chihiro frowned. "I have heard from other guildmasters that some of their team went missing too, but they did show up again after a while. But they're worried about them because they looked like they had the energy sucked right out of them when they came back. They could barely move or even speak. They don't seem to remember what happened either. It's a bit concerning. Admittedly I do fly around my own team's sleeping quarters to make sure they weren't taken in the night."

"And you didn't see anyone else during your nightly patrols?" Chopper asked.

"Sadly I haven't," Chihiro answered. "I can't figure out who or what has been taking these teams of Pokemon away."

"And none of your guild members went missing either?" Chopper questioned.

"Correct...What are you implying, Chopper?" Chihiro glared at Chopper.

"Before, I came here to warn of the missing Pokemon, but now I'm wondering if maybe you know more than you're letting on," Chopper explained.

"If you're implying that I'm the one responsible-" Chihiro started, only for Chopper to cut her off.

"I'm not accusing, not yet. But so far, with every other guild having their own teams missing, while yours are still perfectly safe and sound seems very suspicious. Especially since you have been watching over your Crusaders every night, and yet you fail to see any other strange activities? For your sake, you best hope those missing Pokemon are found, or else you will be held responsible for their disappearance," Chopper accused, while pointing a claw at Chihiro.

Chihiro glared back. "You better watch what you say, Chopper. You know I would never do something like that. What could I possibly want to do with those kidnapped Pokemon anyways?"

"Who's to say, one can never truly know the intentions of a _Ghost_ Pokemon," Chopper replied. "But you have nothing to worry about, if you truly are innocent, then I'm sure those missing Pokemon are indeed safe and sound."

"And I _am_ innocent. I am only looking out for my guild, maybe something _you_ should start doing for yours," Chihiro hissed, too angry to make a pun. "Now if you're done accusing me, is there anything else you wish to talk about? Cause if not, you are more than welcome to leave."

"That is all, Grandmaster Chihiro," Chopper grunted. He started to make his way towards the exit until he suddenly stopped and looked back at Chihiro, grinning. "Though I wonder how long you'll be keeping that title after today."

Chihiro had half a mind to attack the Garchomp for that comment, but that was likely what Chopper was hoping for. It would make her look bad, and give Chopper more ammo to use on her. She just glared at Chopper as he walked out.

When Chihiro floated out, Phantom, Spooks, and Cliff looked at her in concern.

"Is everything alright, Grandma?" Spooks asked.

"You seem pretty… tense." Phantom frowned. "And you're hardly ever tense."

"Everythings alright, whenever Chopper shows up, things always get tense," Chihiro reassured.

"Who was that big meanie?" Cliff asked.

"Oh, just an old acquaintance of mine, we used to be friends, but as we started getting older, our ideas started disagreeing with one another, and soon we went our separate ways," Chihiro explained. "But you don't have to worry about that old grumpy fart, he's just upset cause he didn't have his afternoon nap."

"Oh yeah, I get grumpy when I miss naptime," Cliff agreed.

Phantom and Spooks frowned at each other, they knew it was far more serious than that, but Chihiro didn't want to worry them or Cliff.

"Come, let's get back to the guild for the night. I also need to look out for my team in case someone tries to take them away," Chihiro said quietly.

* * *

"Grant has been very quiet since he woke up," Brody sighed, his fur covered in bandages.

"Is it because of how he lost?" Dust asked.

The Grovyle was sitting in the corner, refusing to talk to anyone. He had some Rawst ointment that was rubbed against his burns. Al, on the other hand was still unconscious as he laid asleep on his bed. He had several bandages wrapped around his body, but for the most part he looked like he was sleeping peacefully. The fire on his tail was pretty strong, indicating he was quite healthy.

"Yeah. Grant is very prideful, especially when it comes to his battling skills," Brody answered. "To have lost so quickly like that was a big blow to his pride."

"Crimson was fighting pretty dirty though," Berry pointed out.

"It was my own fault, I should've been more careful back then," Brody replied. "Just shows you how dangerous it can be if others were to find out."

"Are you worried that Crimson might tell others?" Dust asked.

"I don't think so. If he wanted to, Crimson would've done it the very same day he learned my secret. Though I will still speak with him and hope he decides to keep it a secret," Brody answered.

"I'm still surprised that Crimson fellow was able to get his claws on a Magikarp from the destruction school," Shab stated.

"I'm surprised he got a Magikarp on his team at all," Berry grumbled. "Considering how they only seem to value strong Pokemon to be on their team. A Magikarp is anything but that."

"But everyone knows what Magikarp can evolve into, and a Gyarados _is_ strong," Dust pointed out.

"Right… I guess I just didn't think Crimson and Blizza would be patient enough to raise one up enough to evolve it," Berry admitted.

"Well it just shows that they are pretty resourceful. Though from what I've heard, Al almost gave them a run for their Poke money," Brody chuckled a bit.

"Yeah, it was pretty surprising seeing Al fight like that," Dust noted. "Has he always fought like that? Almost like a wild Pokemon?"

Brody shook his head. "Not always. There are a few times when he starts getting really into a battle he might fight a bit more wild. But you should've seen him the first time we did our mission together. None of us were expecting him to set the entire dock on fire. It took a week for most of my fur to grow back."

"Al sounds like he's very strong, and from watching his battle, he definitely proved to be far beyond the level of an average Charmeleon," Shab noted.

"It's too bad none of us know how strong he really is, or much else about his past. You'd think by now he would've evolved into a Charizard, considering how strong he is, but so far he hasn't shown any signs of evolving," Brody explained.

"Hmm, maybe it has something to do with his past?" Dust suggested. "Though until he gets his memories back, we won't be finding out anytime soon."

Just then, a Blissey came walking in, carrying cartons of food. "It's dinner time, Team Destruct!"

"Oh, someone should wake Al up, I don't think he would want to miss dinner," Dust brought up but was shocked when he saw Al was missing. "Wait, where did Al go?"

Team Night Tide was shocked to see that Al was missing, while Brody only sighed, already having an idea on where his teammate would be. Suddenly they hear the sound of loud chewing in the room and they look back to see that Al was standing next to the Blissey as he had already eaten most of the food.

"Whoa! I didn't even see him eat!" Shab said in shock.

"See him eat? I didn't even see him wake up!" Berry remarked in shock as well.

"Oh dear, I may need to bring in more food," Blissey sweatdropped.

"Sorry about that, I should've warned you about my teammates...appetite," Brody apologized. After Blissey had left to get more food, Brody walked up and punched Al on top of his head. "What do you think you're doing?! Did you forget what we talked about concerning your food?!"

"Sorry! It's not my fault!" Al said as he rubbed the top of his head.

"Not your fault?! You're the only one that has eaten anything!" Brody shouted.

"Again, not my fault. You guys were just too slow," Al laughed as he put another piece of meat in his mouth.

Brody sighed as he turned away from Al. "As you can see, it's quite a handful keeping an eye on Al."

"Yeah, we can see that," Dust sweatdropped.

Shab saw Al eating a big fried fish Pokemon of some kind, likely a Seaking from the size of it. Shab sweatdropped. "I… hope he doesn't mix me up with the food he's stuffing into his mouth…"

Brody laughed at that comment. "Don't worry, he hasn't done that in a long time now...Though we did get an earful from Carrie that day. Anyways, thanks for stopping by to check on us."

"Yeah, of course, we hope you all feel better soon," Berry said.

"There's also another reason why we wanted to stop by," Dust spoke up. "Since your team had lost, we wanted to warn you about the missing Pokemon."

This got Team Destruct's attention, with Al ceasing to eat and even Grant had turned around. Brody looked at Team Night Tide and saw their concerned looks. "Go on."

Dust then went on to explain how at first they were told about the rumors from a reporter, then later from a Cacturne they had met recently. Dust then shared their experience with Emerald the Riolu, of how her teammates had gone missing that they had spent last night trying to find her teammates. They had no luck, but they were planning on meeting with Emerald today and continue searching for her friends. Dust explained how they suspect that those who lost are the ones being targeted.

"But we haven't seen Emerald at all today," Berry added.

Grant frowned. "If you hadn't seen Emerald, then it's likely _she_ went missing too."

"Hold on, we shouldn't jump to conclusions yet, we saw her last night, so it's not like she'd disappear in such a short time," Dust said.

"I don't know," Al spoke up. "I mean, think of it like a big coarse meal. At the beginning there's lots of food, so there's plenty to go around. But as time goes on, you'll find that there is less and less food, so you are now trying to get as much food as possible, with what little time you have left. With the tournament almost being over, I wouldn't be surprised if...what was her name again? Armarad? Ermeda?"

"It's Emerald, get it right," Brody grumbled.

"That's it! Like I was saying, wouldn't be surprised if she went missing in such a short time," Al finished.

"You may have a point…" Dust frowned.

There was a growling sound coming from Berry. She blushed at this. "Sorry… all this talk about food is making me hungry…"

"Oh, there's still some meat left if you want some," Al offered.

"No!" Berry fell off of Dust's back in order to hide under his legs. "No meat! I'm a vegetarian!"

Al gasped as he dropped his food. "Oh...I'm so sorry...how long have you known?"

"What?" Berry frowned, confused by Al's wording.

Brody hit Al upside the head again. "It's a lifestyle choice, Al, not a disease."

"Really? Sounds like a disease to me. I can't even imagine living life without meat," Al shuddered at the thought.

"Don't mind him, he's just a meat lover." Brody rolled his eyes.

"Although… if you're a vegetarian… doesn't that mean you see Grant as appetitising?" Al asked. "Hey Grant, you mind if Berry, and possibly me, can taste you?

Grant responded by throwing a Leaf Blade in Al's direction.

"I don't eat anything with a face on it, that includes Grass types… and any food-looking Pokemon," Berry clarified.

"Have you tried closing your eyes?" Al asked, only for Brody to smack him across the head again.

"Anyways, thanks for the warning. We'll make sure to keep an eye out for anything," Brody said. "And hopefully your friend, Emerald is safe as well. I wish you luck in trying to find her."

"Thanks," Dust said. "We're going to investigate a little bit before we turn in for the night."

"Don't turn in too late, you have your semi-final battle tomorrow after all," Grant stated. "And we will want to watch that."

"Don't worry, we won't repeat this morning again," Dust replied.

With that, Team Night Tide waved goodbye to Team Destruct as Berry slithered back onto Dust's back while Shab went back to his usual spot on top of Berry. After leaving the room, Team Night Tide decided to go to the lobby first, hoping to see if Emerald might be there, waiting for them. But when they got there, they saw no signs of the Riolu, only a few remaining Pokemon who had yet to leave the stadium.

"Was really hoping to find Emerald here, hope she's okay," Dust commented as he continued looking around.

"Maybe Grant was right, maybe she did get kidnapped…" Shab frowned.

"I don't sense her anywhere nearby either…" Berry said worriedly. "Where did we last see her? Maybe that's when she was taken?"

"Well it was close to the spot where we thought we had found a trail leading to her friend, near the dead end," Dust answered. "Do you think we should've brought Brody? He might've been able to help us with our investigation."

"Maybe," Shab said. "Then again, he's never met Emerald before, so I'm not sure if he would be able to track her aura. At least that's how I think Lucario uses the aura."

"Maybe we should go check out the dead end, there must've been something we missed…" Berry suggested.

Dust nodded as he started heading towards the dead end from last night. Thankfully he made sure to have memorized how to get there. As they were getting closer, Dust saw less and less Pokemon, most likely returning back to their homes to retire for the night.

"Alright, I suggest that if we don't find anything, we shouldn't spend too long trying to search in the dark. Unless we actually do come across something, we need to also remember to get some rest for tomorrow too," Dust suggested.

"Yeah, especially if we're fighting with Team Crimson Raiders…" Berry shivered. "I don't like the idea of fighting with an angry Blizza, especially while half asleep."

"Don't worry, my dear Berry. I'll make sure that Hakamo-o doesn't cross the line during our match," Shab reassured.

"I think you might have to worry more about that Magikarp," Dust mentioned. "We might be too busy dealing with our own personal rivals."

Berry's antennae suddenly shot up. "I think there's someone nearby… but I can't locate them exactly… they might be watching us."

Dust immediately went on guard, searching his surroundings, but saw that they were the only ones there. He hadn't expected to come across the kidnapper so soon, his heart was starting to race at the suspense. Berry continued trying to locate whoever was watching them, but she could only sense that they were nearby, and getting closer by the second. Shab was making sure to watch Berry's back as she tried to focus, in case they were suddenly attacked.

"Berry," Dust whispered. "Can you tell how close they are?"

"I… think…" Berry began to say as she was focusing. "They're… right beside you."

Before Dust could even reply, he suddenly felt something cold touching him on the side. All the stress, anxiety, and build up caused Dust to scream, which in turn caused both Berry and Shab to scream. As they are screaming, all of a sudden they hear someone else screaming, which only added more to their own screams. Berry then stopped screaming as she recognized who the newcomer was.

"Calm down! Calm down! It's only Spooks!" Berry spoke up, trying to be heard over the screaming.

Dust ceased his screaming after hearing it was Spooks. "Spooks?"

"S-sorry, I d-didn't mean to scare y-you," Spooks stuttered.

"I'll say! You nearly gave us a heart attack! What's a little Dreepy like you doing out here alone at night?" Shab asked, still a bit shaken up.

"Wait, why _are_ you here, Spooks? If anything I would've expected Phantom to be the one to show up," Dust admitted.

"S-sorry, but s-she's with Grandma right now," Spooks answered.

"Spooks… what's wrong? Something must be bothering you if you're out here alone," Berry asked in concern.

Spooks remained quite for a moment, as he mustered up the courage to continue on. "...W-well you s-see...It s-started when…"

Then Spooks shared how Chopper the Garchomp, Guildmaster for the Lucernas Guild, had shown up. At first he only talked about Cliff and his thoughts about her, but then wanted to speak with Chihiro alone. Spooks mentioned how he had only seen Chihiro get serious a few times, and each time he knew that something or someone was in trouble. Chihiro had Spooks and the others wait outside, but he was so concerned that he ended up eavesdropping on Chihiro and Chopper's private conversation. Spooks went on, sharing how they talked about the missing Pokemon, and at first Chopper only seemed to be warning Chihiro, but after she had mentioned that she had been watching over her teams during the previous nights, Chopper started to accuse her as the one responsible for the kidnapping.

"That...does explain why no one from the Unity Guild has gone missing despite having some of our team already out of the tournament," Dust noted. "With Chihiro constantly watching over them, I can see how it would be difficult for anyone to try to kidnap them. Still, I can't believe that Chopper would even suggest that Chihiro would be the one behind the missing Pokemon."

"Chopper seems to not be a very understanding type," The Feebas noted.

"It'll be alright, Spooks. We know Chihiro is innocent, and Chopper has no evidence supporting his claims on Chihiro being the kidnapper," Berry reassured the Dreepy.

"Well let's just hope he doesn't officially accuse Chihiro, or else things might get worse," Dust brought up.

"What do you mean?" Shab asked.

"One of the perks of getting in trouble back in my old guild is that you tend to pick up a thing or two about certain laws of the guild. I started learning more about these rules so that I can use loopholes and get out of trouble. It did work for a bit, and while the guild couldn't exactly punish me for some time...that didn't stop my Mother from using her own form of punishments," Dust shuddered before continuing. "Anyways, one of the laws I came across that if a Guildmaster were to accuse another Guildmaster of any crime, the accused must take temporary leave, or absent, from their position until proven guilty or innocent. If Chopper brings this up to Grace, Chihiro will be forced to leave until she's proven innocent. And if she's gone...what's stopping the kidnapper from getting the other teams that had lost so far?"

Spooks started to tear up from that. "B-but Grandma is innocent! She would never do such a thing! Phantom and I were with her the whole time!"

Berry quickly hopped down from Dust's back and slithered over to Spooks. "It's alright, don't cry, Spooks. I'm sure Chihiro will be able to prove that she's innocent. No big mean Garchomp is going to revoke her title."

"H-how do you know?" Spooks asked.

"Because your grandmother is very smart, she knows how to work her way through something like this. And we'll even prove it wasn't her by finding the real kidnapper," Berry answered.

"R-really?" Spooks asked as he wiped away some of his tears.

"You can count on us," Dust reassured. "Chihiro has done so much for us, and I'm sure if we were in her position, she would've done the same for us."

"You truly have a way with kids, Berry~" Shab smiled as he began to daydream how Berry would take care of her own children one day, which made him turn as red as a Magikarp once more. _Oh my gosh! No, I shouldn't be thinking THAT far ahead yet! Calm down, Shabby old Feebas!_

"You alright there, Shab? I think you're heating up," Berry asked in concern, feeling Shab's heat from her head.

"O-oh, it's n-nothing! I'm just...hungry! Yeah, we haven't had a chance to eat yet, so how about we take Spooks with us to get something to eat?" Shab quickly suggested.

"Where? Every stand here is closed for the night," Dust asked.

"Some places in White Leaf Town are still open even at this hour, let's go find someone who is still open," Berry suggested.

"We could try seeing if the Sweet Apple Restaurant is open. It's been a while since we last ate there, and I've heard their business has been booming since then," Dust suggested.

"Fine, but I'm going to make doubly sure there's no Pokemon in my food this time," Berry grumbled, remembering what happened last time they ate there, or rather, what she didn't know at the time.

"I hear their dessert is really good, maybe that'll cheer Spooks up too," Shab remarked as they began leaving the building.

As Team Night Tide and Spooks left the building, two shadowy figures watched them go. One of the figures appeared to be serpent-like.

"You seem pretty annoyed about something," A soothing sounding male voice said to the other shadowy figure.

"Well of course I'm annoyed, with that annoying Dragapult constantly watching over her teams, we've been unable to get any of them! And now we had a perfect opportunity right in front of us! We should have nabbed Team Night Tide when we had the chance!" The second figure hissed with a feminine voice.

"Patience my dear, remember what I taught you?" The male voice questioned.

"When hunting for your prey, don't reveal yourself until the last moment. I know! It's just annoying. Doesn't help that that idiot of a Charmeleon ruined the arena. I almost freaked out, he was _this _close to revealing what was hidden beneath! Everything we worked for would've gone up in flames in that moment!" The female complained.

"As much as I appreciate the pun, don't you think you're overreacting a little? The stage is thick, it has to be for those who would use moves like Dig to burrow underneath it after all," The serpent stated.

"You weren't there! I saw how strong that Charmeleon was. Oh just thinking of his strength is making me want to go over to his team right now and take them!" The shadowy figure stated.

The serpent used its tail to push under the other shadowy figure's chin. "Calm down now, before you make yourself known. You know very well why we couldn't take Team Night Tide, they are still in the tournament after all. If they were to suddenly disappear, it would cause an uproar, and attention we don't need."

"I know. I just wish that stupid Dragapult wasn't here! Things would go so much smoothly," The shadowy figure said.

"Not to worry, my dear, the pieces are already set for us. It would appear that one of the Guildmasters is starting to suspect poor little Chihiro of being the kidnapper," The serpent stated. "Now all we have to do is give the pieces a little push, and the teams from the Unity Guild will be yours for the taking~"

"Really? Oh this makes everything so much better now!" The female happily exclaimed.

"But just remember, leave that Goomy for me," The serpent advised. "All the others you can have for yourself, but I _need_ that Goomy."

"Why so interested in the Goomy? Is it because of what she did to those poor souls from Team Volcanic Ash?" The female figure questioned.

"You and I both know what that Goomy did was not something any ordinary Goomy could pull off. It seems that there is more to the Goomy, I want to know more about her heritage. I want to know how she used such power. If I can unlock her secrets," The serpent started to chuckle at the mere thought of having Berry. "My dear, you won't ever have to worry about satisfying your hunger ever again."

"Oh I can't wait! It's so close that I can almost taste it!" The female smacked her lips.

"But we will need to be smart about this. First, we will need to get the Dragapult out of the way," The serpent remarked. "Then, we will worry about Team Night Tide after."

"Well it's like you said, all they need is a little push. Did you know that Dragapult's eyes appear red for a moment? When they are squinting? And let's not forget the little 'rumors' of how some Pokemon that disappeared would see a pair of red eyes looking at them," The female said as her own red eyes glistened in the dark. "Maybe we should share this little information with that Garchomp."

"Now you're thinking, my dear~" The serpent said before laughing. "Let's set the pieces in motion."

* * *

Dust was walking with Berry and Shab on his back and Spooks was floating beside him. They were passing by the message board that usually had posters of wanted criminals. However, as they were passing by, Spooks gave a curious look as he saw a Smeargle walking up to the board.

"Oh, look, they're updating the outlaw message board," Spooks pointed out.

Dust wasn't too curious, his mind more on the tournament at the moment, but then one of the wanted posters caught his attention. As he gave a closer look, he saw that a female Salandit was wanted, but what made the poster catch his eye was the fact that the Salandit's body was white, instead of being dark gray.

"The White Bandit, a Rank A outlaw, murdered a high commanding officer of the Class Guild, and stole valuables. If captured, you will be rewarded 100,000 Poke. Wanted alive. " Dust read outloud. "I've never seen a Shiny Salandit before."

"Heh, White Bandit, seems fitting. Being a shiny already puts a target on her back, but now that there's a wanted poster, I'm sure it won't be long until she's captured," A sudden new voice spoke up behind Dust.

Dust jumped and turned around, seeing a normal colored Salandit there.

"Whoa, where'd you come from?" Berry asked, surprised herself.

"Just wandering around the town," The Salandit said, having a male voice. "I heard that the valuables the White Bandit stole was actually stolen from her by the Class Guild. But she's an outlaw, so, nobody would take her side of the story of course."

"Really? Well how do you know it was her stuff in the first place?" Dust asked.

"News travels fast between us Salandit, others already have a negative view on us, so we try to stick together when we can," The Salandit explained. "But now that she has a wanted poster, it's just gonna give others more of an excuse to judge us. But what can you do, you can't change what you are."

"That may be true, but just because you were born as a certain Pokemon doesn't mean it determines who you are. Like look at me, do I really come across as some intimidating Absol?" Dust asked.

The Salandit looked at Dust for a bit before answering. "I have to admit, the Goomy and Feebas kinda give you a ridiculous look."

"Hey, we don't make him look ridiculous," Shab pouted.

"Nah, we just make him look cute," Berry chuckled.

"Hey, I'm not judging, I've done some things that are considered pretty weird before too," Salandit chuckled. "Hmm… aren't you three from the Unity Guild?"

"Yes, we are," Berry answered.

"I see… I'll have to remember that for later. I might be considering to join a guild, but I want to make sure it's the right one for me. I've considered Team Volcanic Ash, but that place I've heard is a real Distortion World, and considering I'm male and can't evolve, they may not want me anyways," The Salandit remarked.

"Oh, well if you do happen to join Unity Guild, I can assure you that you will be very welcomed. By the way, I'm Dust and this is Berry and Shab," Dust introduced as he pointed to Berry and Shab.

"I'm Spooks," Spooks introduced.

"It's nice to meet you all. You may call me… Kuro," The Salandit stated. "And I also… well, admire the White Bandit quite a bit."

Dust found it strange that someone would admire an outlaw, but decided not to press further. "Well, Kuro, it was a pleasure to meet you. I do hope to meet you again if you do happen to join our guild, I'm rather interested in the biology of your kind. Perhaps one of these days you might be open to doing some research."

Kuro took a step back from Dust, his suggestion of doing _research _on him made him nervous. Before he could reply, Berry suddenly shot water at the back of Dust's head.

"Dust! You don't just tell someone you're interested in doing research on them! You're just creeping them out!" Berry hissed before she looked at Kuro. "Don't mind Dust, he's actually harmless and a nice guy. He can just be a bit too into his research that he forgets how to be social with other Pokemon."

"Right, sorry. Just got excited back there. Haven't really met a Salandit before," Dust added as he shook his head.

"Right… well, I do at least admire your battle skills. I've been watching how you fight in the tournament. I must say, it is quite surprising only the teams of the Unity Guild made it to the semi-finals considering it's known as the 'outcast guild'," Kuro chuckled. "I wish you luck in the tournament. For now, I need to get going."

Kuro began walking away into the White Leaf Town.

"Well that was interesting, first we see a poster of a shiny Salandit, then we actually end up meeting a different Salandit. He seems rather nice," Dust noted. "Do you think he knows the White Bandit? Maybe they are siblings or something."

"Maybe, he did say he admired the White Bandit. He must have a good reason for that," Berry agreed.

"Heh, can you imagine if one of us had a sibling that was an outlaw?" Shab brought up.

At that, Dust and Berry grew silent.

"Uh… did I make it awkward?" Shab asked.

"Well… to be fair, that is a real possibility for us since there are relatives we don't know about," Berry chuckled sheepishly.

"Though I must admit, if I did happen to have some sort of relationship to someone who was an Outlaw, I think they would be terrified if they ever encountered my mother. Unless that's the reason why she never mentions who my father is...Oh dear, now I can't stop thinking of the possibilities! First we had Calcifer who might be Berry's dad, now I might be related to an outlaw too!" Dust started to freak out.

"Uuugh, Dust! Stop it before you go further down the Raboot hole!" Berry groaned.

"Um… are we going to eat any time soon?" Spooks questioned.

Dust shook his head, clearing any thoughts of outlaws and such. "You're right, let's go get food. No need to jump to conspiracy theories."

* * *

**ChloeTheKisune****: DarkFoxKit:** Heh, you'll have to keep guessing for the time being. We have plans for Berry's real parents, don't worry~

**Oragoning****: DarkFoxKit:** Scab? I think you mean Shab, right? As for when he will evolve… not for a while. It's a bit too soon for Team Night Tide to have such a powerful Pokemon like Milotic on their team right now. And I'd like for each of the team members to _earn_ their evolutions. Too bad Absol can't evolve, if you don't count their Mega Evolution. Although you did give me a cute image of a Goodra with a Feebas on its head. XD

**FoxyKhai0209****: Traveling Master: **Heh, yeah, Team Destruct does make an interesting duo. And they somehow balance each other out...for some reason. Which is good, cause if one of them was missing, I think the other two would cause more problems. XD

As for part 2 of the chapter, well as was mentioned before, they did have plans to meet up with Emerald. But they are may learn that won't be the case. And while it would be interesting to see Brody sense Emerald, gotta remember even Emerald had trouble trying to find her friends, and she was very close with them. She hasn't really met Brody yet, so the chances of Brody sensing Emerald's aura are pretty slim, but you never know. Maybe we planned for it, maybe something else. Just gotta wait and see.

**DarkFoxKit:** Please don't talk about potential spoiler stuff on here, another reader saw what you said about a fourth member, and asked us about it. There's a reason why we hadn't shown the fourth member yet. I apologize for not replying on the PMs, when I don't reply it usually means I don't have anything to say. If you want to start up another conversation or a question, you'll have to make a new subject if I don't reply for more than a week.

**Greatest Guy****: Traveling Master: **It was a pretty intense battle. But like you said, it only added more to the mystery behind Berry. All which will be answered in time.

**DarkFoxKit: **The Magikarp, as answered in this chapter, is indeed female. If you look at a Magikarp's gender differences, the males have yellow whiskers while the females have white whiskers.

**Star Pisces****: Traveling Mster: **The Charmeleon they were talking about wasn't a member of Team Volcano, but part of the Volcanic Ash Guild. But yes, there is some mystery behind Al's past. Hard to say if it will be good or bad if the others learn the truth. But only time will tell.

**Star Ophiuchus****: DarkFoxKit:** Yeah, Berry's a bit of an exception among Goomy due to a special reason. Also, I'm a fan of those hidden great power outbursts in a character tropes, so I couldn't help but put that in Berry. Brody has trouble telling a Pokemon's gender when he first sees them, even if they have a clear gender difference like Meowstic, since he actually admitted before in the story that he mistook Miyagi for a female before.

**Traveling Master: **Plus, I think when it comes to Aura, it doesn't exactly show one's gender, but more as what kind of Pokemon they are. It could show a hostile aura, or a friendly aura. And if Brody is meeting a Pokemon for the first time, all he wouldn't be able to tell their gender based off their aura alone. After getting to know them, he'd recognize the Pokemon depending on their aura but before then, not really.

**DarkFoxKit:** We will get to who Berry's birth parents are at some point, don't worry.

**MagiStep****: DarkFoxKit:** Don't ask us too much about Team Aura Force, we rather keep things about them confidential unless revealed in the story. This chapter wasn't really focused on them anyways. As for the fourth member, I won't say anything about them, you'll just have to wait and see.

**Coyobyss****: DarkFoxKit:** Are you excited or insulted that Berry is 'too powerful'? ^^' If excited, then yeah, it's been pretty fun writing out her outbursts. If insulted, then… sorry, guess I got a bit carried away.

**Ice Swing****: Traveling Master: **That battle against Team Aura Force was pretty tough, but they managed to win against Emerald and her team. And yes, just like with Emerald and her unique eyes, we do have plans for other Pokemon having unique attributes, but won't say further. And the Pokemon looking very lifeless, well you are just gonna have to wait and see if the others will be alright. And as I mentioned before, Brody and Emerald haven't really met each other, so there's a small chance Brody would even know if Emerald was in trouble.

**DarkFoxKit:** Let's not forget that Emerald couldn't sense her own teammates with her aura either. So it's very unlikely Brody would sense someone he never technically met.

**Guest #1****: DarkFoxKit:** First off, thank you. As for what you were saying about Dust… uh… what are you saying? That Dust was planning poorly in that last battle? Anyways, that team of Fire types were trained to battle against Water types, what with the Sunny Day and having a Pokemon with Solarbeam. Though they're not that good against Dragon types, at least not with Berry's kind anyways, but Berry herself is still a weak Goomy, not counting her outbursts. She doesn't gain the same type attack bonus from Water Pulse either. And Shab is still a Feebas, which is a very weak Pokemon stat-wise.

Berry didn't use a new move with this outburst, it was just that this particular outburst was so violently strong that it turned her moves into something much more devastating and huge. As you will learn when the story goes on, this type of outburst is extremely rare and powerful among the Volcanic Ash Guild, which is why it was supposed to be kept secret from outsider Pokemon. But Berry did use multiple moves, the water dragon you saw her using was in combination with her DragonBreath and Water Pulse, that and the rain made it much stronger.

That Charizard… I won't go into detail about him, but I will say it's not his first time experiencing someone going out of control due to that particular outburst. Remember, he is a top ranking member in Team Volcanic Ash, he has been trained with this kind of power, so he knows how to control it and how it affects someone who doesn't know how to control it.

**Traveling Master: **Well, Meteor was suspicious and believes that Calcifer might be Berry's father. And if that was the case, as we established before with egg moves, maybe Berry would end up learning something from this "Calcifer." But that is if he is indeed the father. But we aren't restricting egg moves to where they can only be gained from the father, both parents can pass on a move they know unto their child.

**DarkFoxKit:** And as I've mentioned before, Pokemon can learn their egg moves whether they hatched with them or not in this story. Like Shab, for example, could still learn Hypnosis and Dragon Pulse even if he wasn't born knowing those moves already. The only difference is that Pokemon who are hatched with these moves would have them earlier than if they had to learn it from scratch. Berry didn't have any egg moves starting out, just wanted to mention that, but she _can_ learn those if I wanted her to.

**Traveling Master: **As Meteor mentioned, Calcifer was a Charmeleon the last time he saw him, and that he ended up giving Igneel those burn scars on his back. And Igneel was a Charizard back then. And I can't deny that your theory is pretty awesome. Who knows, maybe you are right about Calcifer and Igneel. Maybe they did fight each other for the right to mate with the Goodra. But until Al regains his memories, or Igneel decides to share his past, we won't know until later in the future.

**DarkFoxKit:** The way Burn Up works in this story is that it is only temporary. If the move made them permanently lose their Fire typing, it would've become an illegal move rather than just a move one guild didn't want their members to use. Besides, if a Charmander line lost their Fire typing permanently, they would probably not live very long, since they need their fire to stay alive.

**Traveling Master: **The name Calcifer does come from that movie, so you guessed it right. But that's just the name alone, we have plans for Calcifer.

**DarkFoxKit:** Heh, when we first made Team Crimson Raiders, TM wanted to put in a Zoroark character. I decided since he was going to do that, why not make them the rival team to Team Night Tide? So we put in a pseudo legendary Dragon type as well, since Berry is more special orientated, though Goodra can be mixed, we decided to go for a more physical orientated dragon. Dragonite and Salamence were good choices, but since Berry can't fly, and will never be able to fly, we didn't want the rival dragon to be able to fly either. I thought of making it be the Axew line, but Axew isn't a pseudo legendary, so we went with Jangmo-o instead. Personally, I don't really like the Kimmo-o line, but it was the perfect balance and rival pseudo legendary dragon to use for Berry. When we later added in Shab to the team, obviously we had to bring in a Magikarp to Team Crimson Raiders, especially since Gyarados is also perfect for them considering they value power.

I need to clear this up right now; the Amaura was only a possibility, it doesn't mean we will be adding one to Team Night Tide. We had been unsure about it for a future plan, which was why we wanted to get people's votes on whether we should have it join them or not. But then we realized it was far too early to do that, because everyone wanted the Amaura due to the lack of members Team Night Tide have at the moment, and it wouldn't work if nobody knows what Pokemon we planned for Team Night Tide. So we decided to wait until Team Night Tide have their planned out team members before we put that voting on the Amaura back up. But if they do recruit the Amaura, yeah, maybe we will have Team Crimson Raiders recruit a Tyrunt, but again, this is only a _maybe_ right now. As for their answer to Cliff later… heh, we already decided on what Pokemon that will be, but we won't reveal it here. Right now, Cliff hasn't officially joined Team Night Tide because she's still a baby.

**Traveling Master: **I am loving your theories. I actually always like seeing theories from the reviewers, seeing how close or how far they actually are. I used to do the same back when I first joined Fanfiction, and always got excited to see how close my theory was. Now I won't say much, especially since we are getting close to the end of the tournament, but just keep watching and waiting.

**DarkFoxKit:** Yes, Berry is going to hate me. XP We will be keeping in the whole Sliggoo having trouble with their eyesights in this story, and it could lead to some interesting scenarios.

**Traveling Master:** Well, as DarkFoxKit mentioned before, we do have Team Crimson Raider set up as the rival team for Dust, Berry and Shab. Again, won't say too much since we are close to the end of the tournament, you'll just have to wait and see. As for the whole, "thank Kyrogre" and "Praise Reshiram" well there are all sorts of Pokemon, and many Legendary Pokemon, so there will be many different believes. Some will praise Mew, others Arcues. Fire types are more likely to use Reshiram, and so forth. I don't think Dio will be referencing Dialga or celebi, but if you were making a reference to a certain show, then that's a very nice reference there.

And no need to apologize, we were able to read your review. Thanks for your review and for your many questions.

**Lonelyboi69****: DarkFoxKit:** Hehe, well, while Brody does treat all females with high respect, and tends to flirt with them, Shab truly loves Berry, so most of the stuff he says to her comes from the heart rather than his teachings from Brody. Brody just made him more bold about it.

Well, maybe Berry won't go Super Saiyan- *insert number here*, but she might go super dragon. XP

**Guest #2****: DarkFoxKit:** Relax, it's a stage 1 cancer, very treatable, though I suppose there is that 20 to 30% that it could come back. Let's hope it doesn't. My only issue is that my treatment will cause me to lose the ability to have kids, so… I won't be able to have my own children.

**The Moonfox Collective****: DarkFoxKit:** Ooh, Dragon Burst Mode, nice, I like it. I've… never seen Dragonheart, but I've heard of it, I'm sure that reference would make more sense if I had seen the movie.

**Traveling Master: **Oh it's such a great movie! Oh my gosh! I haven't seen that in so long! I think it's on Netflix, but still, such a great movie! Sequel is...meh...But the third and fourth film are great. But the first was amazing!

**DarkFoxKit:** I'm sure it is, you dragon nerd. XP

**Traveling Master: **First, nice example using Anakin Skywalker. Like how Obi Wan said that Darth Vader had killed him, in a sense that would fit very well with your theory. We do have plans for Al's mysterious past, but can't go into further detail. But focusing more on your theory, as Meteor explained, Calcifer ended up using a powerful fire type attack while also using Blazing Burst Mode. Those two combined would do some serious damage to a Pokemon's inner fire. But in the end, as you and Shab greatly put it, doesn't matter what Al's past may be, right now Al is Al.

Well as you most likely saw in this chapter, the Magikarp's whiskers were indeed important. And I think the show itself established how ridiculous and unpredictable a Magikarp evolving would be. From the first time when James kicked his Magikarp, only for it to evolve and summon more Gyarados.

**DarkFoxKit:** Hmm… Magikarp with yellow whiskers are usually male, so what could the white whiskers mean? Hmmmmmmmm? XP Though if you read this chapter before reading our response, then you should already know.

**Guest #3****: DarkFoxKit:** Is Al evil? No, is he clueless and can make the dumbest of comments at the wrong time? Yes, very much so. Now is Calcifer evil? That's a question we don't know yet. XP

**Jojo's Bizarre****: Traveling Master: **Heh, true. I can see that.

**Electrybara****: DarkFoxKit: **Levels aren't really taken into account in a story like this. The anime doesn't do that either. Pokemon can just learn a late move or evolve at any time they want. Like for example, Goomy can't evolve into Sliggoo until level 40, though Berry is more likely at level 25, or 30 at the latest right now. But her body feels like it's time to evolve. So don't take levels into account too much here. The Pokemon's strength and skills determine how strong they are rather than their number set levels.

**Flazar****: Traveling Master: **Heh, glad you are enjoying the story so far. But as for our update, well we already mentioned what will be happening. Updates will be slow for the time being, but it's only temporary.

**Guest #4: Traveling Master: **Yup, Dust has shown some interests in the past concerning his father, but he knew Eclipse would not be willing to reveal anything about who his father was. Something did happen between Eclipse and the father, but that will be answered later in the future. As for your idea, it's not bad, and we do have plans for Berry and Dust's parents, but who knows, maybe you ended up guessing what the plans were with your ideas. Or not, can't say for now. But no need to stop sharing your ideas or theories, I always look forward to them. And who knows, they may actually end up giving us some inspiration or ideas for our story.


	31. Chapter 31: Crimson vs Night

**DarkFoxKit:** Sorry for the delay, but we finally got another chapter up. TM, would you like to say anything about the other story you're posting lately?

**Traveling Master: **Oh, uh, sure. Well I guess I should tell you all a little background first. A while back I had made a second account and on that account I did a story called Pokemon Red Vs Blue. It was based off the popular Youtube series, Red Vs Blue. The story was a retelling of the series, but with everyone as Pokemon instead. After a while I had stopped and left that account, but recently I picked it up and decided to continue the story on my main account. If you watched the show before, or if you're interested in learning more about it, you can either check the show itself, or check out the story. It's on my profile.

**DarkFoxKit:** And don't worry, we are still working on this story. TM and I aren't giving up on it any time soon. You'll just have to be patient with us, and you'll be rewarded with good, quality chapters.

**Mew:** Hey, so when am I going to be in this story?

**DarkFoxKit:** Uh, Mew, this isn't The Child of Mew story… you know that, right?

**Mew:** Yes, I'm not an idiot. But it _is_ a Pokemon story, sooooo… where am I?

**DarkFoxKit:** … You… we… TM, would you like to take this one?

**Traveling Master: **I already came prepared. Mew, if you read this, it will explain our plans for you. ***I then hand Mew a card*** Though it might be a little hard to see, I had to fit a lot of stuff on the card.

**Mew: *Looks at the card, seeing nothing but chicken scratch non-sense*** What is this supposed to- ***She looks up, notices TM was running away. The card in her hand burned with pink fire*** TM…. You shouldn't have done thaaaaaaaaaaat~

**Traveling Master: **I regret nothing!

**DarkFoxKit: *Sighs*** You readers go ahead and get to the chapter, I need to go make sure Mew doesn't turn TM into a plushy again, otherwise we won't be able to write for a while.

* * *

**Chapter 31: Crimson vs. Night**

It was the next morning. Even though Team Night Tide had a bit of a late night, they were able to get up early this time and not almost miss their turn in the ring again. They also wanted to have time to prepare for the semi-finals. They would rather not screw up and leave their items behind. Whichever team they were going to face, Dust knew they weren't going to be as generous as Team Volcanic Ash were.

"Who do you think we'll be facing in the next round?" Berry asked as Dust put the items away in his bag. "Do you think it'll be with Team Crimson Raiders, or maybe Team Silkwing?"

"Hey, if we do go up against each other, let's make it a fun, clean round. No holding back, we've been training just as hard as you three did after all, it'd be an insult if we didn't go all out," Talon spoke up.

"Just… be careful not to lose yourself, I'd rather not drown," Ivy chuckled sheepishly.

Berry winced a little at that.

"Sorry, too soon," Ivy quickly apologized.

Other than Team Night Tide, Team Silkwing were the only other team left in this waiting room.

"There's also that Team Vanguard from that pure Fighting type guild," Shab reminded. "They had to have been strong to make it this far."

"I believe they consist of Mienfoo, being the leader, Breloom, and Pancham," Tippi stated.

"Looks like whoever we face against, we'll be having a difficult time," Dust noted. "Though we made it this far, no point in thinking about the difficulties now."

"We should probably think about recruiting a member who's good against Fighting types after this," Berry remarked. "While we're not terrible against Fighting types, none of us are… very tanky when it comes to hard hitters like them."

"It's unfortunate that Mimi didn't join us, though I don't blame her. If I went through what she did, I too would wish to explore the world around me," Dust added.

"Who's Mimi?" Ivy curiously asked.

"She was a Mimikyu we met a while back," Berry answered, not wanting to go into details about who or what Mimi was.

"She's exploring right now, though as to where she is at this moment, we haven't gotten a clue. But Berry did tell me that if we did ever meet up again in the future, she'd be willing to join our team," Dust commented.

"Oh nice, Mimikyu are pretty rare these days, it'd be awesome to see a real one," Talon noted. "Since Pikachu plushies aren't made as much these days like they were in ancient times, Mimikyu haven't been seen very much."

"Oh, you know who else would've been a good addition to our team? That Salandit we ran into last night," Dust pointed out. "Having a Poison and Fire type on our team would be really helpful."

"You guys ran into a Salandit?" Talon asked.

"Correct," Dust answered.

"You guys seem to always run into all sorts of Pokemon," Ivy chuckled.

"A Salandit isn't that rare, though they don't usually come to this part of the region," Tippi noted.

"Well, even if we do go up against Team Vanguard, we've made it this far despite some of the disadvantages we had before," Shab spoke up. "We should be just fine as long as we work together."

Suddenly, the door fell down. The Bewear and Stufful walked inside, making both teams quickly on attention.

"So, now that we are in the semi-finals, we should tell you a few extra rules that have been placed. It's to make it more dramatic for the audience, as well as show your guild masters if you truly earned your rank up," The Stufful stated.

"More rules?" Dust asked.

"That's right, seeing as this is both teams's first time being in the semi finals, we want to make sure you know beforehand these extra rules," Stufful explained. "Now, the first rule is related to your items. Before we were lenient on the number of items you can use, with the exception of certain items. Now, you are allowed to bring 6 items with you. Berries and Seeds are allowed, but Wonder Orbs may not be used."

Both teams were surprised to hear that not only were they limited in the number of items they could bring, but now they couldn't use any Wonder Orbs. Dust frowned as he looked into his bag, seeing he had brought quite a few Wonder Orbs. He had a plan and everything for them. Team Silkwing seemed just as troubled that they couldn't use their Wonder Orbs anymore.

"As for the second rule," Stufful continued. "Due to the earlier incidents, teams aren't allowed to purposely damage the arena. Collateral damage can't be helped, but if you purposely destroy the arena, you are disqualified. And also, if one of your team members starts to go wild and lose control of themselves, the match will be stopped and that member must sit out. We do not want another incident, now do we?"

Berry frowned, knowing that last part was mostly because of her. "We… we understand."

"Good," Stufful said with a nod. "Now, one last rule, and this is more for the team leaders. You can issue a Duel with your opponent, if you wish to."

"A Duel?" Dust asked, surprised.

"That's right. Instead of being a team battle against a team, each member can fight an individual member. With three members on each team, whichever team wins two out of three rounds are declared the winners," Stufful explained. "This rule is to add more entertainment for the audience, as well, it may give you a certain advantage."

"Is there anything else we should know about these rules?" Dust asked.

Stufful shook his head. "That's all the extra rules we have. Now, make sure you all are ready. We are going to have all the remaining teams come out onto the arena before revealing our next match ups. The announcer likes to pump up the crowd by showing the last 4 teams that made it this far."

* * *

It was time for the semi finals to begin. Patricia came up on the now patched up arena to begin the announcement. The crowd was excited for this.

"Alright folks, I can feel the energy and excitement coming from each and everyone of you! We have witnessed many battles, many victories and surprising feats from all participating Crusaders. Now let me ask you, have they all lived up to your expectations?!" Patricia shouted out loud, resulting in a loud cheer from the crowd. After a couple seconds Patricia continued. "Now we are down to our final four teams. First, the muscle bound, strong and a force to be reckoned with, Team Vanguard of the Punching Guild!"

The crowd applauded as a Mienfoo, Breloom, and Pancham entered the arena. As they were making their way towards the center, the team would occasionally pause to flex and pose for the audience.

"They sure have amazed each and everyone of us. Despite all sharing the type, they have shown through sheer force and determination that they can overcome any challenge they come across!" Patricia announced. One Team Vanguard had made it to the center, she continued on with the next team. "Next we have a team that surprised us with their unique combination and teamwork, I give you Team Silkwing of the Unity Guild!"

Talon led his team, with Tippi following behind as Ivy was riding on top of the Butterfree. They swirled around a bit, showing off before landing. The crowd cheered at that.

"Now for our next team, they have made themselves known through their strengths and power. Each opponent they faced they won against almost each one with none of their teams fainting, showing us how dedicated each member is to proving themselves the strongest, I give you Team Crimson Raiders of the Unity Guild!"

The crowd cheered as Crimson walked out followed by Blizza and Levi. Blizza looked pretty pouty, and seemed to be ignoring the crowd. Her eyes, however, did glance at Berry, who was still off stage. Levi had to flop her way over to where Team Crimson Raiders were standing. Crimson was the only one out of the team to give a small wave at the crowd, grinning as he made eye contact with Dust.

"They seem to have a lot on their mind," Dust whispered to Berry.

"I don't know about Crimson, but Blizza is definitely thinking about ripping me apart…" Berry groaned.

"Don't worry, Berry, you're stronger than you think," Shab tried to reassure her.

"That's… also what I'm worried about…" The Goomy sighed.

"I didn't mean when you go into your outburst, Berry," Shab clarified.

"He's right, that last match just happened to be out of your control. But now that you know what to be careful of, I'm sure it shouldn't happen again. And if it does, I'll be there to help you through it," Dust added.

"That's right, you can always count on us, we'll always have your back," Shab agreed, hoping to make Berry feel better.

Berry gave them a small smile, though she was still unsure if she should even battle.

Patricia continued on with her announcement. "And now for the final team, one who has surprised all of us from the start. An Absol, Goomy, and Feebas is quite the unique team we've seen so far, and each weren't expected to have gotten this far in the tournament. But they have proven all of us wrong! You know them, you recognize their strength and determination! Here to do the impossible is Team Night Tide!"

Dust came walking out with Berry on his back, and Shab on Berry's head, as usual. The crowd cheered loudly. Many likely enjoyed seeing the little Goomy on the Absol's back, and the Feebas on the Goomy's head, it was like they were stacking up on Dust's back.

"Seems we're almost the crowd favorite at this point," Dust chuckled.

"Well we are the underGrowlithe, most Pokemon like rooting for those," Berry remarked.

"Even if we weren't, I'm sure they would still be cheering for you, Berry," Shab complimented.

"I doubt it… but thanks, Shab," Berry said quietly.

"Good luck, Mommy! Daddy! Uncle Shab! I'm rooting for you!" They heard Cliff's voice echoing through the area.

"Aww, look at Cliff cheering for us," Berry told Dust.

Dust looked to where Cliff was and smiled at her, despite not being related by blood, he couldn't help but feel happy that he had accidentally mistaken Cliff's egg for a rock. But then something caught his eyes and he started to be filled with dread. For staring right at him was his mother, and it was not the proud look he saw before, but one of a predator ready to go in for the kill. Dust then recalled Eclipse's words of no more surprises, especially of those related to him being a father.

Looking right at Eclipse, Dust mouthed, "Surprise?"

Thankfully, before Dust could see anymore anger from his mother, Patricia continued. "There you have it, folks! The team that had made it this far, and three out of four of them are from the Unity Guild. Who would have thought the Unity Guild teams would make it this far? And now it's time for the semi finals to begin!"

Patricia waited as the crowd cheered. After a few seconds the crowd started to calm down as they all waited to see who would be first to fight in the semi finals.

"Alright, so for our first match up we will be having Team Crimson Raider vs…" She paused for dramatic effect, which was working very well. "Team Night Tide!"

As soon as Patricia announced that, Dust, Berry, and Shab immediately looked at Crimson, Blizza, and Levi. There was a spark between the two teams that soon ignited into fire. Dust had never felt both nervous and pumped at the same time. He had been waiting for this moment. Berry was more nervous than excited, especially after her last outburst. Blizza was more annoyed that Berry didn't look at her in the eyes. Shab didn't feel the same fire as Dust and Berry did, but he was looking at Levi. Levi was staring at Shab back. Though it was unclear how the two 'weakest' fish Pokemon felt about each other.

"Looks like there's already some pretty fierce sparks flying between the two teams. Perhaps they are rivals? If so, then I'm sure you all are looking forward to this match!" Patricia shouted before putting her mic away as she addressed the remaining teams. "Alright, Team Silkwing and Vanguard, you two will go wait until after this match is over. As for you two, really loving the rivalry that's going on here. You two sure do know how to keep the crowd entertained. Now can the two leaders of Team Night Tide and Crimson Raiders come here?"

Team Silkwing and Team Vanguard left the arena. Berry slithered off of Dust's back as Dust and Crimson went to where Patricia was.

"Alright, just going over some quick rules before we start. Again, your team may only use up to 6 items, no intentionally damaging the arena. And Dust, if that teammate of yours goes wild, then we will have no choice but to stop the match and it will most likely end with your team being disqualified. Are we clear?" Patricia asked.

"Crystal clear," Dust answered.

"Great, you two have done an amazing job leading your team," Patricia complimented.

"We do what we must," Crimson spoke up. "Oh, and Patricia, before we begin, would it be fine if I said a few words to Dust?"

"Go ahead, but no preemptive attack, doing so will result in disqualification, and that would disappoint a lot of us," Patricia advised. "And try not to take too long, the crowd is pumped to watch the battle."

"Don't worry, it will be quick," Crimson reassured.

Patricia then walked away to address the crowd. "The team will be discussing something before the match will begin!"

The crowd began to groan at the fact they'll have to do more waiting.

"I hope they're not going to tear each other's throats out before the match even begins…" Berry frowned.

"Don't worry, Berry, I'm sure Dust would know better than to attack before the match officially begins," Shab reassured.

"What do you want? We really shouldn't keep the crowd waiting," Dust stated.

"I just want to congratulate you and your team for making it this far. I'm being honest when I say that you have been really impressive, and I can see it in your eyes," Crimson answered.

"What can you see?" Dust asked, unsure of what Crimson was getting at.

"The fire within, the anticipation for this match to start. But I know there's more, it goes back to when we first fought. I can tell you want more than just a match between teams, you want a duel. This is something I want too, so what do you say? Will you accept my challenge to duel?" Crimson asked.

Dust could feel his heart racing. He had a feeling that Crimson wanted to fight him alone, which was why he issued the duel in the first place. Without even thinking about talking to Berry or Shab about it, Dust agreed. "Yes, I will accept the duel."

Crimson grinned, though Dust could see that the Zoroark was looking forward to this duel as much as he was.

"Patricia, I had issued a Duel and Dust had accepted," Crimson called out.

"A duel?" Patricia asked, already feeling excitement. "Alright folks, this just in the two leaders of Team Night Tide and Crimson Raiders have agreed to a Duel!"

"Dust!" Berry hissed as she quickly slithered over to the Absol. "We didn't agree to a Duel!"

But it was already too late, once two of the team leaders agreed to a duel, it was set. The crowd had erupted in a cheer, even Eclipse's anger was replaced with surprise, though there were some concerns on her mind.

"A Duel?" Eclipse said out loud.

"Do you think it was wise of your son to accept the challenge?" Grace asked.

Eclipse looked closely at Dust, as well as the Zoroark. She could tell there was some kind of rivalry between the two. "I think if they fought as a team, they would've had the advantage, but now it's fair game for everyone."

"Now it's time for the teams to decide who they will face 1 on 1," Patricia spoke up.

"I'm taking the weak Goomy! I owe her," Blizza growled.

Berry wanted to just disappear at this point. Fighting Blizza with Dust and Shab was one thing, but facing her alone was _not_ something she had been prepared for. She would either get ripped apart by an angry Hakamo-o, or she'd lose herself again and put Blizza in real danger, while also costing them the match.

"Dust, I think we both know who we will be fighting," Crimson asked.

"You don't have to tell me twice. Patricia, me and Crimson will fight each other," Dust told Patricia.

Shab saw that Levi hadn't taken her eyes off him the whole time. "Guess that leaves me to fight-"

"Levi! And you best not forget it. I'm looking forward to fighting with you. They say that fighting is the best way to learn more about your opponent, and let's say I'm in a learning mood," Levi then winked at Shab, confusing the Feebas.

Berry noticed, but she was too shaken up to say anything reading to Shab at the moment, she was also pretty angry with Dust for deciding on this Duel without talking to them about it first.

"Alright! So here we have it! First it will be Shab vs Levi, the two water Pokemon from each team. Followed by the two leaders, Dust and Crimson. For the final round it will be a battle between two mighty dragons!" Patricia explained the order to the crowd.

Blizza grinned as she pounded her fist into her palm. Berry winced back at seeing that.

"Shab and Levi may come forward. The rest of the team members must watch from off of the arena," Patricia stated. "You may give your fighting teammates any items you have on you, but you may not help them otherwise."

"Hold on!" Blizza suddenly spoke up. "We're only allowed to have 6 items per team, correct?"

"Yes, that is part of the rules for the semi finals," Patricia answered.

"What about items that the team is wearing? Like that scarf around the Goomy's body? Or that stone she's wearing? And that scarf on the Absol's neck? And that scarf on the Feebas's tail?" Blizza asked, pointing the items out.

"The rule does apply to held items too," Patricia answered. "Now is there anything else you would like to ask before we can get started?"

"Just wanted Team Night Tide to know about that before they bring in extra items to the battle." Blizza grinned.

"Well that already puts a limit on our limited items," Dust noted. "Berry, I think it would be wise to wear only one item so that we can have access to our other items. I'll have to forgo using the Pecha Scarf as well."

Berry frowned, but didn't say anything. Blizza and Crimson walked off of the arena. Berry slithered away to get off of the arena as well. Dust blinked, noticing Berry was giving him the cold shoulder before he walked off of the arena.

As Dust followed after Berry, he couldn't help but think to himself. _I wonder if Berry is okay. I'm sure she's just nervous, but also anxious for her match against Blizza. I know I am with Crimson. We'll win this, I know it!_

"Now let the first match of the semi-finals begin!" Patricia announced.

Shab and Levi stared each other down.

"Well… this is awkward," Shab remarked.

"And what's so awkward about this?" Levi asked. "It's just two fish about to battle, though it doesn't have to be so awkward."

"I don't normally fight alone," Shab stated. "Even in the wild I usually had a school with me."

"So? I had a school of my own when I was wild, and I was the strongest out of my group. It's why I'm here, and I'm guessing it's why you're here too. To get stronger," Levi remarked as the two of them began to swim around each other in the air.

"Well, I guess I do want to get stronger for my team, but that wasn't why I joined Team Night Tide," Shab said. "But I guess it doesn't really matter, we're here now and we might as well put on a good show."

Levi grinned as she suddenly charged towards Levi. The Feebas decided to take on her Tackle with his own Tackle. The two Fish Pokemon collided with one another, and for a moment were at a stalemate, both trying to push the other back, though neither giving way. Suddenly, with a sudden surge of strength, Levi managed to knock Shab away.

Levi grinned as the Feebas fell back, but Shab wasn't one to go down easily. Shab knew that while a Magikarp was a little stronger physically compared to him, he still had the advantage. Levi was limited to about two or three moves, while he had other moves he could use on her. Shab used his tail fin to bounce up and forced a Water Pulse at Levi's face, pushing her back.

After being pushed back, Levi recovered just as Shab fired Ice Beam at her. She dodged to the left and started charging at Shab once more. The Feebas fired another Water Pulse at Levi, but she was more prepared and maneuvered around the water attack.

While the two Fish Pokemon were going at it, Berry looked at Dust. She decided now was the best time for the Absol to see the mistake he just made.

"Dust, what were you thinking, taking on this Duel without even talking to Shab and me about it?" Berry asked.

"What?" Dust asked before realizing what she meant. "Oh...I do admit I should've consulted with you two, I guess I was just caught in the moment. Though isn't this what you wanted? A rematch with Blizza and to show her how truly strong you are, to make her realize all her mistakes in assuming that you were weak?"

"No! I never wanted to do that by facing her alone! I may have meant what I said about there being more to being strong than strength alone, but that doesn't mean I want to face her ALONE! I only got this far because I worked with you and Shab as a _team_, Dust. _We_ only got this far because we worked as a team! I'm weak by myself, Blizza is going to rip me to shreds, and if she doesn't, _I_ might if I lose it again. And you and Shab won't be there to stop me because of this Duel!" Berry snapped. "... I don't know how, but for someone so smart, you can be so stupid sometimes. Crimson likely baited you into this Duel, knowing we might've had a chance to beat them together."

Dust had been so caught up in his goal to achieve Gold Rank, as well as his rivalry with Crimson that he failed to be there for Berry. He knew that she was troubled since their last match with Team Volcano and should've taken her into account of how she would've felt about this duel. Instead Dust only ended up getting caught up in how far they had gone, and became too arrogant and selfish. It was just like before on their first unofficial mission, when Dust left Berry behind in the Mystery Dungeon.

"...Berry, I...I'm sorry," Dust apologized, realizing more how big of a mistake he had made.

"Forget it, it's already too late," Berry remarked softly, most of her anger drained. "All we can do now is hope for the best."

Dust wanted to say more, but Berry didn't seem to want to talk anymore with him. _I may have messed up, but if Shab manages to win, then I'll make sure that you don't have to go through this, no matter what._

Shab managed to graze Levi's tail fin with his Ice Beam, partially freezing it. This caused Levi to go out of balance and fall to the ground, missing her Tackle attack. Shab then used his own Tackle on Levi, pushing her back a few feet.

"Not bad… for a Feebas…" Levi muttered. "I can see you've been training a lot too. My school may not always appreciate other fish Pokemon, but you Feebas are the exception."

"Oh really? And why is that?" Shab asked.

"Because of your evolution. It's similar to my kind's, but more beautiful. Beautiful and deadly~" Levi grinned. "You know how we appreciate that kind of thing in my school."

This was the first time Dust heard anything related to Shab's evolution, he wasn't even sure if Shab could evolve.

Shab frowned. "I suppose. But what does that have to do with anything?"

"Think about it, once we evolve into our final form, imagine how strong and beautiful we would be together. You're as eager to evolve as I am, I recognized that scarf you're wearing on your tail fin. Perhaps after this match we can help each other _evolve_," Levi suggested as she started getting closer and closer to Shab.

"W-what? W-wait, are you implying-" Shab asked as he slowly backed away from the Magikarp.

"Perhaps I am," Levi remarked, moving closer to Shab again. "Don't worry, I can be gentle if you're worried about being too rough~"

"Uhhhh…" Berry stared in shock at what Levi was saying.

"YOU GO GIRL!" Blizza's voice shouted.

Crimson just put his claws over his head.

Berry looked at Dust, who was looking away. "Why aren't you looking? This could be the perfect opportunity to do your research on how fish mate."

Dust was blushing slightly as he closed his eyes to further block his view. "While I may love research and all, there are certain..._topics_ I would rather much avoid."

Shab was also slightly blushing as he continued moving away from Levi. "H-hold on, I'm sure you're a l-lovely Magikarp and all, but we just m-met."

"So? Wild Pokemon mate with those they just met all the time. We may have been educated to be more like civilized Pokemon, but we still have that instinct~" Levi said. "Why fight it? You know you want this as much as I do."

Shab frowned, deciding he needed to set her straight before she became _too_ wild. "I'm sorry, but no. I'm just not interested in you that way, civilized or wild. I… have my eyes on another."

"That's right Shab! Remember who your love is devoted to!" Brody shouted amongst the crowd.

"Will you be quiet, you lovesick buffoon!?" Grant's voice snapped.

"This is getting interesting, I wonder what that Magikarp will do now?" Al asked as he munched on some popcorn.

"What?!" Levi actually stopped, shocked at first before getting frustrated. She got closer to Shab and whispered to him in a threatening tone. "Who is it?"

The Feebas didn't give the Magikarp an answer, but his eyes did end up glancing over at the precious Goomy who was watching them. Shab accidentally started to blush when he looked at Berry.

When Levi saw Shab's reaction and blush, she realized who Shab had fallen for. "Her? The Goomy? And you are going to evolve for her, when we could have each other?!"

Berry looked surprised and confused at the Magikarp's sudden lash out. She just knew Shab said something about a Goomy, likely her, that made Levi really angry.

"Look, there _are_ other Feebas you could mate with if you're _that_ into my evolved form," Shab retorted.

Levi wasn't listening to reason as she grew more aggressive. "All you Feebas are the same, toying with the hearts of others. Typical of you to lead a lady on!"

"I wasn't leading you on! _You're _the one who jumped to conclusions!" Shab tried explaining.

"You don't deserve any mercy!" Levi snapped, before she suddenly gave a grin. "Perhaps you just need a bit of persuasion! I'll show you exactly what you're missing out on just because you like a stupid slug pretending its a dragon!"

"Don't insult Berry!" Shab frowned. "And what do you mean by-"

Levi's body started glowing brightly, and she began to grow, her fish body getting longer and bigger. Shab's eyes widened as he paled, backing away from the evolving Magikarp. "O-oh… that's what you meant…"

Everyone gasped as Levi's body grew and grew, until finally her body ceased glowing. Now towering over Shab was an angry Gyarados. Berry's mouth was dropped open in horror shock, now worried for the little Feebas trapped in the arena with this giant angry pseudo water dragon. Berry knew all too well what it was like to be outmatched by an angry dragon.

"Berry, what's going on? Are they doing anything...uh...inappropriate?" Dust asked, still having his eyes closed.

"What!? Did you _miss_ that!?" Berry all but shouted. "Open your eyes, you Slowpoke!"

"But-"

"There's nothing inappropriate going on! Just open your eyes!" Berry snapped, frustrated that the one Pokemon who would've been absolutely star struck with witnessing a Magikarp evolution up close and personal just missed it because he had his eyes closed.

Dust cautiously did so, but then he opened wide eyes when he saw Levi as a Gyarados. "She evolved?! And I missed it?! Why didn't you tell me she was evolving?!"

"How could you freaking miss it!? The evolution was BRIGHT!" Berry shouted in frustration.

"I had my eyes closed!" Dust shouted back.

"Well that wasn't _my_ fault!" Berry retorted.

"So, still think we shouldn't be together?!~" Levi asked.

Shab was nearly blown back by Levi's loud voice. He was also on the edge of the arena. Levi was much bigger than she was before, also a heck of a lot more intimidating.

"It's over, there's no way in Distortion World that weak little Feebas is going to beat Levi now." Blizza grinned. "Though it's too bad, I would've liked a crack at that Goomy myself."

The Hakamo-o then looked at the shaken up Goomy. "You see that, you weak little slug? _That_ is a true dragon even if she isn't a Dragon type!"

Berry frowned, but it wasn't like she could deny that. Levi as a Gyarados definitely fit the bill of a dragon. And yet… _Levi is still nowhere near as intimidating as that Goodra back at Waterfall Cavern. I think Shab might still have a chance if he could fight back smartly._

Dust was already frustrated with himself over his mistake, so seeing Blizza taunt his teammates only made him angrier, which caused him to say something without thinking about it first. "Big talk coming from a _dragon_ who ended up getting one shot in their last match!"

Blizza glared back angrily. "Well, not anymore."

"Stop helping!" Berry hissed at the Absol.

"Incredible, you all just witnessed an evolution happen. Things were already heating up between Shab and Levi, but now Levi has taken the advantage with her new form! Looks like Shab is going to have to try extra hard if he hopes to score a win for his team!" Patricia shouted into her mic, causing the crowd to cheer at the sudden evolution.

Shab was shaking, he was afraid, he usually swam away to hide from a big angry Gyarados, yet here he was, having to face one down. It was an impossible match. The other Pokemon who were watching also believed it was over for him. Unless Shab would spontaneously evolve too, Shab was as good as Gyarados bait. Unfortunately for the Feebas, his body wasn't evolving.

"What's the matter? You look a little shaken up. You realize the mistake you made now?" Levi said in a deeper voice. "Well it's too late now. But I can show mercy. If you give up now, I won't have to hurt you."

Shab looked ready to give up, when he suddenly heard Berry's voice calling out to him.

"Shab! Don't give up! I know it looks hopeless now, but you can still win this!" Berry called out. "You're smaller than her, but you can use that to your advantage! You still have a few items you can use too!"

Shab managed to stop shaking as he faced the towering Gyarados. "I'm not giving up now! And you may call it a mistake, but it's a choice I'm willing to stick with, no matter what I face!"

Levi growled. "You'll come to regret those words, Feebas."

Levi's tail suddenly had a torrent of water on it, and she moved her body to slam it into Shab. Shab saw the huge tail coming at him, and used his tail fin to bounce up into the air, dodging it.

"A Gyarados may look like a dragon, but they are half Flying type!" Berry called out. "They don't resist Ice Beam anymore!"

"Thanks, Berry!" Shab called out before he shot out an Ice Beam at Levi.

Levi tried to dodge, but she didn't take into account how much bigger and longer her body was. She was an easy target for the Ice Beam, which partially froze her side. Levi hissed at the pain but then shook her body once, causing all the ice on her body to break off. She spotted where Shab was and charged head first with her mouth opened, ready to use Bite on the Feebas.

Shab yelped as Levi tried to chomp down on his body, but she forgot how much smaller Shab was compared to her that Shab ended up inside her mouth instead of being bitten by her teeth. Shab blinked, seeing he was in the mouth of a Gyarados.

"Oh my gosh she's gonna eat him! Wonder how he would taste like?" Al commented.

"Al!" Brody snapped, smacking the Charmeleon upside the head.

"She's not allowed to kill him, so if she does swallow, her team is disqualified," Grant remarked.

"Well technically she wouldn't really kill him, there's a small chance he could survive. I mean, she's huge!" Al tried reasoning.

"You hush," Brody grumbled.

Berry was staring in fixated horror. Dust noticed that Berry had gone still as she was staring at the battlefield.

Levi's eyes widened as she opened her mouth and spat out the Feebas, and she appeared to be choking on something. Bits of ice was coming out of the Gyarados's mouth.

"I guess she didn't like having a frozen lunch," Shab mumbled, trying to shake off the saliva from his body.

"I guess that's one way of getting out of someone's mouth. Though I wouldn't want to be in Shab's situation either," Dust shuddered at the thought of almost being eaten alive.

Berry hated how much this fight was reminding her of that Goodra in the Waterfall Cavern.

Levi hissed in anger as she started lunging at Shab. Shab quickly moved to the side as Levi used Tackle, causing a small crater in the arena. Though because Levi was aiming at Shab and not the arena itself, it was counted as collateral damage. Levi went after Shab again, who was moving around in the air frantically, trying to keep away from Levi's Tackle.

"What's the matter? Have you been reduced to just swimming away like a coward now?" Levi taunted as she was chasing the Feebas around the arena.

"I don't have a death wish!" Shab snapped back.

Levi then began to swing her Aqua Tail at him. Shab quickly used Ice Beam to freeze the water around Levi's tail, which caused her entire tail fin to be frozen. Though she hissed in pain, she still continued on with her attack. Shab tried to dodge the upcoming attack, but Levi managed to hit Shab with her frozen tail, knocking the wind out of him as his body went flying across the arena. Landing hard on the ground, Shab's head was ringing as he tried to get up. His vision was blurry but he could see two figures in front of him. One was a white figure and he assumed was Dust, the other was a purple blur that he was most likely Berry. He could see that they were trying to say something, but the ringing was still going on through his head.

There was a small yellow seed beside Shab. The dizzy fish looked at it before picking it up with his mouth, but was careful not to swallow it.

The Gyarados slithered over to Shab. "Look at you, you've gotten so weak that you've resorted to weak guerrilla tactics. Maybe you're not worthy to be my mate after all."

Shab looked up at Levi before he spat out the seed, using Water Pulse to propel it up into the Gyarados's big open mouth. Levi was not expecting the sudden attack from Shab, so she failed to close her mouth in time as the seed entered her mouth and down her throat.

Levi started coughing a bit at having something put in her mouth. "What...what did you just put in my mouth?!"

Then all of a sudden, it was darkness around Levi. She couldn't see anything, but she could still hear the crowds cheering. Normally Levi would stay calm, but as a Gyarados, she became more prone to anger and rage. It didn't take long for her to lose her cool.

"You think you won just because I can't see?! Well let's see if you survive after I blow the entire arena away!" Levi shouted as she started drawing forth energy towards her mouth.

"What are you doing, Levi!?" Crimson shouted.

"You'll hit us too! And you'll get us disqualified!" Blizza yelled.

"She's about to use an overcharged Hyper Beam on the arena! Berry, if we don't move now we are gonna get caught in the blast!" Dust warned.

"I don't think we'll be able to move in time, Dust!" Berry gasped.

Levi was about to fire, but Shab suddenly bounced up to her face and fired the strongest Ice Beam he could muster into her mouth, not only that, but he fired his Water Pulse at the same time, trying to use it to help freeze the angry Gyarados's mouth shut. _I won't let you hurt my team!_

Levi was so focused on using Hyper Beam that by the time she realized what Shab was doing, it was too late. Shab's combined attack caused her mouth to be frozen shut with a solid block of ice. She tried to stop using Hyper Beam, but there was too much energy, and with no outlet, her attack ended up going off within her mouth, causing a large explosion from within. Smoke covered most of her head as the explosion went off, but after a couple seconds the Gyarados started falling towards the side as Levi collapsed onto the ground. Her mouth was no longer frozen shut, the explosion blasting the ice away, but she was no longer conscious. Shab landed on the floor, completely exhausted. He likely had no more Ice Beam left for the rest of the match, but he was still conscious.

Patricia ran up to Levi to double check to see if she was unconscious. After making sure that she was, she started to address the crowd. "Levi is no longer able to battle! The winner is Shab!"

The crowd was shocked into silence for a moment, they couldn't believe that the _Feebas_ actually defeated the _Gyarados_.

"Heh… fell… by her own power…" Shab chuckled tiredly. _Guess she wasn't used to her evolved form yet. That's what won me this battle._

Then the crowd, once the shock was over, erupted in a cheer. Many were taken back by how unexpected the victory was, but that made it all the better. Although some Pokemon weren't too happy, as they had bet Poke on Levi. Shab managed to make it back to Dust and Berry, who were both proud and worried over the Feebas.

"Way to go, Shab, if you hadn't stopped Levi, all of us would've been blown away!" Dust congratulated.

"I wouldn't let that happen," Shab said. "As Berry said, I did have a chance at winning. Levi may have gotten strong when she evolved, but her downfall was that she wasn't used to her new form, as well as the new rage that came with it."

"I'm glad you were able to not give up until the end." Berry smiled.

Shab blushed at the compliment, but then frowned when he turned to Dust. "Even though I won, it was really close. Dust, I don't think it was wise to have accepted this duel. We're stronger when we fight together."

Dust frowned as he was reminded of his mistake, though he didn't reply.

Shab sighed before continuing. "Just do your best, it won't be easy but I think we can still win this."

"Do you think I could win against Blizza one-on-one though?" Berry asked with a frown. "If Dust should fail here, I'll have to face her."

"Don't worry, you won't have to face her," Dust spoke up, confusing both Berry and Shab. "I got us into this mess, so I'm going to fix it. Berry, I'm sorry that I let myself get ahead in this tournament, but I promise you that I'm going to win this fight so that you won't have to fight Blizza."

Dust then started walking towards the center of the arena, where Crimson was already waiting. Berry gave a look of doubt. Shab fighting with a newly evolved Levi was one thing, but Crimson was clearly far more experienced, and even trickier to defeat. He was able to defeat Al after all, and he took Blizza out with little to no issues.

"Dust… don't get reckless," Berry warned. "Crimson isn't the type of Pokemon you can fight by charging in headfirst."

"Do you think he can keep his promise? Of winning so you won't have to fight?" Shab asked, noticing Berry's doubt.

"... I… think it's possible, but… not very likely. He'll have to out-clever Crimson if he wants to win," Berry answered softly. "Though Crimson had already outsmarted Dust by baiting him into this Duel in the first place."

"What a surprising turn of events, but that concludes our first round. So far Team Night Tide has the lead, but it's still anyone's game! Next will be the two leaders of Team Night Tide and Crimson Raiders!" Patricia announced before addressing Crimson. "Now before you two start, this is your last warning. If it wasn't for Shab stopping your reckless teammate, your team would've been disqualified. So if you two try to pull a stunt like that, you're out. Are we clear?"

"Crystal," Crimson started as he stared at Dust.

"Clear," Dust finished, returning the stare.

"Great, now get to your positions!" Patricia instructed. After Dust and Crimson were ready, Patricia raised her arm before signalling them to start. "BEGIN!"

The moment Patricia brought her arm down, Dust charged forward with Faint Attack, moving quickly across the arena towards Crimson. The Zoroark grinned as Dust got closer and closer. But just before Dust could make contact, Crimson suddenly appeared in front of Dust as he delivered a Sucker Punch to the Absol's face. Dust was expecting Crimson would use that attack, though it felt a lot stronger then the first time he received that blow from Crimson.

Dust remained conscious and using the force of Crimson's attack, twisted his body as his tail became hardened. Crimson saw what Dust was planning and tried to jump away from the Iron Tail attack, but Dust managed to nick Crimson's side. When Crimson landed, he winced for a moment from Dust's counter attack. Dust landed on his back from Crimson's blow, but quickly got up.

"I have to say, I'm impressed, little Dusty. You've grown much stronger since the last time we battled. You also trained your little Feebas well if he was able to take out Levi after she became a Gyarados," Crimson complimented with a grin.

"Crimson, was this your plan all along? To have this duel?" Dust suddenly asked, ignoring the compliment.

"If you think I did this to give my team an advantage, you're sorely mistaken. If I truly wanted my team to win, I wouldn't have issued the challenge to duel. No, I wanted just as much as you do a rematch, just us two. No team mates, no distractions, just two Pokemon whose sole purpose is to battle." Crimson explained.

Dust didn't know how much of what Crimson word's were true, but one thing he couldn't deny was that he too had been looking forward to this match. Ever since he lost to Crimson, Dust noticed this new feeling that he never had before. It felt like something burning deep within, a fiery passion, determination, or anticipation, though Dust couldn't exactly tell. But he should have done that during a training spar, rather than staking their rank and their friendship on this battle. It was too late for regrets now though.

"I'll make sure to defeat you then," Dust growled.

"Then let's see you try." Crimson smirked.

Dust fired an Ice Beam at Crimson, who countered with Flamethrower. The two elemental attacks collide at the center as Dust and Crimson continued firing their attacks. At first it was a stalemate between Ice Beam and Flamethrower, but then Dust saw his Ice Beam was getting pushed back. Crimson grinned before putting more energy into his attack, almost engulfing Dust's Ice Beam. Dust saw that he couldn't overcome Crimson's Flamethrower, so he ceased his attack and used Protect. A second later Dust's Protect blocked Crimson's flames, though he was still able to feel the intense heat coming from the attack. The flames finally ceased, and Dust dropped his barrier, expecting an attack from Crimson, but was surprised to see that the Zoroark hadn't made another attack.

"You know, Dust, not all of my moves are direct attacks," Crimson stated. "I have ways to make my attacks stronger. By keeping myself calm and focus… which is something you seem to be lacking right now. You almost look desperate in fact."

Dust wasn't sure what Crimson was talking about at first, but then recalled his match against Team Destruct. During the battle Crimson's attacks seemed to be much more stronger, and that he was relatively calmed up to his fight with Al. It was then Dust realized what Crimson meant.

"You know Calm Mind," Dust stated.

"You guessed it, unlike Team Destruct. They only seem to focus on attacking, and while their strength is actually impressive, they don't seem to use their full potential," Crimson explained.

"Interesting, cause I remember Al managed to get under your skin," Dust pointed out.

Crimson frowned for a moment at being reminded of how he lost his composure during his match with Al. But he quickly grinned at Dust before replying. "Anything can happen in the heat of a battle. And if you're hoping to try to get me to lose my focus, I'm not going to fall for it a second time."

Dust frowned, for that was actually his intention. Even though Crimson dealt a powerful blow to Al, he still had lost his focus. An angry opponent was a lot more easier to fight against then a calm one. But it seemed that Crimson had already made sure to keep calm and focus. Dust knew that Crimson's special attack and defense would only get stronger from this point on, so he decided his best option was to get in close and use physical attacks.

Dust started charging towards Crimson with Faint Attack. Instead of using Sucker Punch like last time, Crimson opened his mouth and used Flamethrower. Dust had to stop in his tracks and jump to the side, barely dodging the attack, though some of the flames did manage to singe his fur. He was about to charge once more, but then saw that Crimson hadn't ceased using Flamethrower, and the flames were now coming towards him. Dust started running towards the side of the arena as the flames were following close behind. The flames finally ceased when Dust managed to make some distance between him and Crimson.

"So what are you going to do now, Dusty? Risk getting burned trying to get to me?" Crimson asked while taunting.

Dust thought of his options of how best to get to Crimson. He knew the Zoroark wouldn't let him get close, and the longer Dust waited, the stronger his attacks would get. Dust probably figured by that point even his Ice Beam wouldn't be able to stop Crimson's flames. But then an idea came to Dust's mind, though he never tried it before, it might be his only shot to get to Crimson.

"Already giving up?" Crimson asked.

"Far from it!" Dust answered back. _If this is going to work, I'm going to have to get as close as possible._

Dust charged once more at Crimson. The Zoroark shook his head, disappointed that Dust would be trying the same attack. Opening his mouth, Crimson let loose another Flamethrower at Dust, though this time the Absol was expecting the attack. Instead of jumping to the side or stopping, Dust kept on running, though he started going diagonally across the arena. Dust felt the intense heat from the flames as he ran past the Flamethrower attack. Crimson didn't stop with his attack as he changed the direction to hit Dust, who only kept running alongside the flames.

Dust knew it wouldn't be long until the flames reached his body, but he had to get as close as possible for his plan to work, though getting closer would mean Crimson's Flamethrower would end up burning him. Just as the flames were about to reach Dust's body, the Absol made his move. Using Ice Beam, he aimed at the ground in front of him, using the ice to build a type of ramp. As crude as it was, it served its purpose as Dust used the new structure to leap off the ice, over the flames and towards Crimson. His tail was beginning to harden as Dust twisted his body before hitting Crimson against his head with Iron Tail. Despite everything going according to his plan, for a brief moment, Dust thought he saw Crimson smirking as he fell to the ground.

Dust landed near Crimson's body, his guard up as he waited for the Zoroark to get up, but Crimson remained on the ground. Dust started to wonder if he actually had won and begun to lower his guard.

"Dust, look out!" Berry shouted.

Dust's heart raced after hearing Berry's warning, but his attention was on Crimson, who was still on the ground. Then from the corner of his eyes he saw flames coming towards him. Dust figured that the body on the ground was an illusion and Crimson had planned on attacking Dust the moment he used Iron Tail. Dust immediately used Protect as the barrier stopped the fire attack, but Dust noticed something strange. Last time he felt heat coming from Crimson's attack, but this time he felt nothing.

"You know, Protect is very useful, but what happens when the enemy is this close to you?" Dust suddenly heard Crimson.

Dust looked behind him just as Crimson used Sucker Punch on his gut, knocking the wind out of him. The barrier went down as Dust was gasping for air.

"...But...how?" Dust managed to ask between gasps.

"You thought you hit an illusion, but you actually managed to hit me. Not gonna lie, that really hurt," Crimson explained. "I knew you would throw up your little shield the moment I countered, so I just used an illusion to force you to use Protect, even though I was right beside you."

Dust hissed, feeling close to passing out, but he knew he had to keep fighting. Then suddenly, he saw Crimson surrounding him with his illusions, before firing a Hyper Beam at him. Dust blinked, finding himself back in the present. Crimson began to do just what Dust had saw moments before; creating illusions to surround him.

_No! I have to get to the real one now!_ Dust thought desperately.

Dust used Faint Attack, and with it, he managed to sense the real Zoroark, and attacked him. Sadly, for Dust, this didn't stop the Hyper Beam. Now Dust was at point blank range from it. Dust's eyes widened as the last thing he saw was Crimson smirking before blasting out the bright beam at his face.

'DUST!" Berry shouted in worry as the crowd gasped.

Dust's body was flung from the explosion and slammed into the barrier wall that protected the crowd from the attacks. Dust's body fell to the floor, his fur burnt from the Flamethrowers and the Hyper Beam. Patricia didn't even bother to check on Dust, seeing how he took an attack at point blank range.

"And the winner is-" Patricia started but then stopped when she saw Dust get up. "Incredible! Looks like Dust isn't out of this fight yet!"

Crimson looked both impressed and a bit concerned, having used up most of his energy in his last attack. Though if Dust still wanted to battle, he was more than willing to continue as well.

Berry frowned, sensing something was off. She turned around and used Water Pulse to propel herself over to Dust. She managed to land in front of him before looking at Dust's eyes. They were glazed over. She shivered a little, realizing what this meant.

"No… he's… he's not conscious…" Berry said quietly. "But his will to fight made him stand up…"

When Patricia saw that Dust was not moving and that Berry had checked on him, the Mawile decided to check for herself. After seeing that Dust was no longer conscious, she decided to end the round. "And the winner is Crimson. What an incredible battle between two dark types, both have shown true ingenuity in this battle. Despite having lost, Dust's will to continue still shows. Now that's what I call a true warrior spirit!"

A medical team came to get Dust, but had some trouble as the Absol's body wouldn't budge.

"Dust… you can relax now… it's over," Berry said to the unconscious Absol, hoping his subconsciousness could hear her.

At first Dust expression hadn't changed, still ready to fight despite his body barely being able to stand up. But after hearing Berry, his expression softened as his eyes shut and his body collapsed on the ground.

"To think he would still have the will to stand up even after he lost consciousness… now that takes determination," Brody complimented.

Grant nodded, impressed by how far the Absol has come.

"Defeat will leave a bitter taste in his mouth, but hopefully he learns from this to improve himself." Al mentioned before popping another berry in his mouth. He then noticed Brody and Grant were looking at him, confused by his remark. "What? I'd have a sour taste in my mouth too if I lost."

Chihiro looked over at Eclipse. "What's on your mind, Eclipse? I've noticed you haven't taken your eyes off the battle this entire time."

"...Every battle is won and lost. Even if Team Night Tide were to win this match, Dust will have to overcome his loss." Eclipse answered as she watched the medical team take Dust away.

"Daddy is strong. He will win next time," Cliff stated.

Eclipse turned to look at the Larvitar. Ever since she heard Cliff call Dust her Daddy, she's been wanting to speak with her son. Eclipse had been planning on speaking with Dust after this match, but felt perhaps after the tournament would be best to speak with him. But before then, she would at least make sure that Dust is actually this Larvitar's father before jumping to conclusions.

"Chihiro, why does the Larvitar keep calling Dust, Daddy?" Eclipse asked.

"Oh, well you can just ask Cliff yourself," Chihiro smiled.

Eclipsed sighed but figured as much. "Alright, Cliff? Are you sure Dust is your father?" Eclipse asked.

Cliff looked at Eclipse before smiling. "Yes, Daddy is Daddy. Are you… are you my Grandma?"

"Wait what? You think I'm your Grandma?" Eclipse asked, confused by the sudden question.

"You smell like him, you look like him but older and a girl," Cliff answered like it was that simple.

"Kids these days seem to be a lot sharper," Chihiro laughed.

Eclipse looked away for a moment, trying to collect her thoughts. _Me, a grandma?! I mean, I did think about that once, but I never imagined Dust would ever find someone, much less have a child! I can't be a grandma! I'm too young to be one!"_

Chihiro was laughing at Eclipse's face. "Relax, Eclipse, Cliff's egg was found and hatched by Dust. She's not biologically his child."

Eclipse blinked a few times before regaining her composure. "And why did Dust decide to hatch an egg?"

"Well it wasn't his intention. In fact, he thought it was a rock at first, which is why he brought it with him. Imagine his surprise when his _rock_ ended up hatching," Chihiro laughed even more.

The female Absol then groaned. "The sad thing is… that definitely sounds like him…"

"So, in a way, that does make you a Grandma," Chihiro pointed out. "Welcome to the club."

"Grandma! Grandma!" Cliff smiled as she walked over to Eclipse and hugged her leg.

Grace was laughing when she saw this. "Careful, Eclipse, someone may get a picture and the leader of the Master Rank of the Olympus Guild would be shown to have a soft spot for children~"

With Dust carried away, Patricia knew that meant Team Night Tide and Team Crimson Raiders were now tied, and it was time for the tie breaker. Blizza looked particularly bloodthirsty right now. Shab was giving Berry a concerned look as she slithered back over to him.

"Are you going to be okay, Berry?" Shab asked.

"I don't know… that depends on Blizza," Berry answered quietly.

"You don't have to fight her, Berry…" Shab said worriedly. "Remember, forfeiting isn't going to cost us our rank up. Perhaps we already showed we're worth at least one rank up by now. I'd rather you didn't get hurt out there."

Berry was considering it. While she did want to have a rematch with Blizza, she was hoping it would be with her team, not a one-on-one slaughter match. Blizza, on the other hand, was getting impatient.

"Hurry up, you sorry excuse for a dragon! Your so called _leader_ lost! So now it's time for a tie break! Or would you rather have your leader's loss be for nothing?! At least your teammates put up a fight! Now are you going to do the same?!" Blizza challenged.

Berry frowned. She knew this was important to Dust, but she wasn't sure if it was worth getting hurt or losing herself again.

Shab frowned as well. He remembered when Levi evolved, nobody believed in him, except for Berry. Berry was the one who encouraged him to at least try. Deciding to return the favor, the Feebas looked at the Goomy he fell for.

"But maybe there are some battles worth fighting, Berry," Shab stated. "You should get out there and show her you're not weak, and you deserve being a dragon just as much as she does."

"But I'm not a dragon, I'm… well, a slug," Berry replied.

"And I'm a fish who everyone thought was going to lose against a Gyarados, except for one. You Berry, you believed in me when others didn't, and it helped me push myself further. Berry, I know there's more to you than what others think. You are the kindest, sweetest Pokemon I've ever met. You care strongly for your friends and would do anything to protect others." Shad tried reassuring.

"But what if I lose myself again?" Berry asked in concern.

"You won't, cause the Berry I know cares more about others than power," Shab answered. "You can win this without your outburst, I know you can."

"Hurry up! Are we doing this or not!?" The Hakamo-o shouted as she tapped her foot on the arena.

The Goomy looked at Shab before she nodded. "Okay… if I don't face this now, I may never be able to face it. Thanks, Shab."

Shab smiled as Berry slithered up onto the arena, facing Blizza. "Sorry for the delay… I'm ready now."

Shab then threw the item bag to Berry, knowing she would need it.

"Alright, this match has been nothing but intense. We first got to witness the unbelievable as Shab managed to defeat an evolved Levi! Next we saw the two leaders show great skills in their battle, even seeing how far Dust was willing to go to win. Now it comes down to our final round! Two Dragons will fight to earn their team a spot in the Grand Finals! Blizza, are you ready?!" Patricia asked as she pointed to Bizza.

Blizza pounded her fist against her palms, never taking her eyes off Berry. "I was born ready!"

_Why does everyone keep calling me a dragon?_ Berry grumbled to herself.

"Berry, are you ready?!" Patricia asked as she turned to Berry.

"... Yes?" Berry said in such a low voice that some Pokemon had to strain to hear her.

Patricia then raised her arm as she prepared to signal Berry and Blizza. "BEGIN!"

Blizza wasted no time to start the battle as she charged towards Berry. Berry used Water Pulse to propel herself away from Blizza's incoming charge. Blizza turned and tried to get to Berry. While Berry was coming down from the air, she took a deep breath before shooting a toxic purple sludge at Blizza's face. Blizza saw this and jumped, making the Sludge Bomb hit her chest instead of her face.

Blizza seemed hardly fazed by the poison attack and was about to charge once more until she noticed that Berry wasn't wearing her Defense Scarf, but instead had a strange white stone tied around her body.

"What? You finally decided to ditch that Defense Scarf and use an item for offense?" Blizza asked. "Or maybe you're wearing it in hopes of it helping you evolve."

"You don't know what it is I'm wearing?" Berry asked in surprise. "This isn't an evolution stone, it's an Everstone."

The Hakamo-o furrowed her eyeridges. "What the heck is an Everstone?"

"It's an item that prevents evolution as long as the wielder holds it," The Goomy explained.

Blizza actually smiled at that, making Berry feel uncomfortable at seeing the Hakamo-o happy. "So that's why you were wearing it this whole time!"

"What are you talking about?" Berry asked.

"I get it now! You were waiting for the right moment to evolve! Just like how Levi evolved, you've been planning this the whole time. And here I am thinking that you didn't have a single back bone in your body! Now hurry up and toss that Everstone aside so that we can have a real battle!" Blizza excitedly shouted.

Berry frowned as the audience suddenly grew quiet. They had likely heard what Blizza said and were actually very curious to see Berry evolved. Not many knew a lot about Goomy, or what their evolved form was.

"This might not turn out so well for Berry…" Chihiro noted worriedly.

"Why do you say that? Is it because she wouldn't be used to her evolved form like Levi wasn't?" Eclipse asked the Dragapault.

"No…" Chihiro frowned. "Berry wore that Everstone for a specific reason, and it's not because of what Blizza thinks."

"Well?" Blizza asked when Berry didn't move to remove the Everstone. "Hurry up!"

"I… don't think you understand," Berry said quietly.

"What's there to understand?" Blizza asked as she started to get impatient. "When we first met you were nothing but a scared, spineless, sad excuse for a Dragon. But ever since that day when I lost to you, I've been wanting to redeem myself from that humiliating defeat, but every time you always refuse! Acting like you're afraid, acting like you're better than me just because of that sparring match! There's no doubt that you are stronger than you let on, not after the way you single handedly defeated that team from the fire guild! So hurry up and evolve already!"

"I don't _want _to evolve!" Berry stated loudly. "That's why I'm wearing it!"

"So that's how it is? Still thinking you're better than everyone else? Don't have to evolve because you think you can beat me how you are now?! I'm going to wipe that stupid smug look of your face!" Blizza angrily shouted.

"No, that's not-" Berry tried to say, but Blizza was already charging at her.

Blizza's claws turned red as draconic energy ran through them. Berry knew that Dragon Claw was going to hurt if it hit her, especially without her Defense Scarf to try to soften some of the damages. Berry made herself jump to try to avoid it, but Blizza was taller than Berry expected as she reached up and grazed Berry's side. Berry let out a cry of pain as she fell to the ground. She quickly rolled over though as Blizza was coming back for a more direct Dragon Claw attack.

Berry responded with a Dragon Breath attack. To her luck, the Dragon Breath made Blizza's body go numb and unable to move. Blizza hissed as she got down on one knee, feeling her body's numbness. Berry let out a sigh of relief that she could relax a little. But the moment she let her guard down, she felt something heavy hit her side, the sudden attack sending her flying across the arena.

Blizza smirked, her tail giving a silvery glow from just using Iron Tail. "First rule of battle, never drop your guard, even after your opponent is defeated!"

Berry managed to get back on her bottom that were her 'feet', and saw Blizza was chewing on something, most likely a berry or seed that healed her recent paralysis.

"And here's another rule," Blizza started as she started walking towards Berry. "You'll end up losing if you hold back."

Berry frowned, she didn't think she was holding back. Her outburst wasn't something she had control over, but it wasn't like Blizza knew that. Which made Berry grimace.

Blizza then started running towards Berry again. "Here's a little motivation to fight back at your full strength!"

Berry could see Blizza's claws curling into a fist this time, going in for a punch instead of a claw attack. Berry knew she wasn't the strongest when it came to raw power, her outburst not-withstanding, but she can be smart on how she used her powers.

Berry jumped and shot gushes of water at Blizza while also propelling herself higher towards the ceiling. Berry then let out a small cry, summoning rain clouds above her. The rain always made her feel stronger, so she was going to take advantage of that. It began to pour onto the arena. Berry then took a deep breath and mixed her Sludge Bomb with her next Water Pulse attack, spewing out poisonous water at Blizza.

Blizza put her guard up as she was hit with the poisonous water attack. Despite being fully covered in poison, Blizza shook her body, getting most of it off. "I've endured a lot worse than some tainted water! You're going to have to try harder if you even want a chance of beating me!"

Berry knew her next move was going to be very risky as it would involve getting up close and personal to the very offensive Hakamo-o, but even though she could be afraid, Berry wanted to prove she had some backbone after all if nothing else… even if she wasn't 100% sure she even had actual backbones. Berry then turned herself around to shoot out another Water Pulse to propel her towards Blizza. Then she turned to face Blizza as she was rocketing toward her. Blizza smirked, looking ready to catch the incoming Goomy. But Berry had a plan. Berry opened her mouth and blasted out her Dragon Breath. This was something she and Dust had been working on for a while during training. The Dragon Breath began to cloak around Berry's body while she was coming in for a rocket Body Slam. Transforming the usually Normal attack into a Dragon attack.

Blizza's eyes widened in shock at this, but she didn't have time to dodge now, Berry was already too close. With the Dragon Breath cloaking her, Berry slammed into Blizza, causing both of them to go back several feet from the impact. The crowd remained silent as they watched in anticipation, wondering if Berry's attack was enough to defeat Blizza. As Berry managed to get back up, she looked at Blizza and hoped that the Hakamo-o wouldn't get up. To her disappointment, she saw Blizza slowly getting up, though she looked rather fatigued from the attack.

Blizza took several deep breaths while clutching her chest, wincing a bit from the pain. She then looked at Berry, giving her a fierce glare. "So you have all this strength and still you refuse to evolve?"

Berry, knowing if she wanted to keep going, dug out the only Oran Berry she had in the bag for this fight. She quickly swallowed it up, letting it heal her wounds.

"So even now, you still are looking down on me," Blizza growled as she took out an Oran Berry and a seed from her bag. She put both of them in her mouth as she grinned at Berry. "Maybe this will make you take this fight seriously!"

A red and purple aura surrounded Blizza as her muscles looked to have grown bigger, her body looking stronger. Berry paled as she realized what this meant. _She just ate a Violent Seed!_

Blizza looked up to the sky as she let out an intimidating roar, causing most of the audience to flinch from the sudden shout. Once Blizza had finished roaring, she stared right at Berry, her look causing the Goomy to gulp. This wasn't the same Blizza she was just fighting moments ago, now it seemed as though Blizza was a predator, and she just got sight of her prey.

Berry didn't waste any time sliding across the wet arena, she was thankful her body was so slippery from the rain and water, because it saved her from a devastating Drain Punch that narrowly missed her and punched a big hole in the stage instead. Because Blizza was aiming for Berry though, she wasn't disqualified for messing up the stage. She gritted her teeth and growled as she looked at the water skating Goomy.

"Shab! Get me the Distortion World out of here!" Berry squealed as she barely managed to avoid another incoming Dragon Claw attack that slashed through the stage. _Great, why when Blizza loses it, she doesn't get disqualified!?_

"H-hang in there, Berry!" Shab called out in concern.

Berry took a quick glance to look behind her and yelped. For Blizza was now running on all fours and was catching up to her. Blizza began to spin her body around as a dark energy surrounded her. Berry yelped as she was unable to get away from the attack and was hit by Blizza's spinning tail. The Brutal Swing attack caused Berry to go flying across the arena, hitting the barrier protecting the crowd. Berry groaned as she fell to the ground. She could see Blizza was still coming at her, still ready to tear her apart.

Berry could feel the power inside her wanting to burst out, to protect her from this wild dragon beast, to take out the monster before it could take her out. Berry quickly shut out that power and that line of thinking. She could win this without resorting to her wild side this time. Berry remembered she still had a couple of items left. She quickly dug out one of the seeds in her bag. Just as Blizza jumped to pounce her, Berry tossed the seed into Blizza's open mouth. Blizza swallowed the seed and her eyes went wide before her body teleported in a white flash of light.

Blizza was momentarily confused when Berry had just vanished. She looked around the stage, trying to find sight of where Berry went. "Come on out you coward! You were this close to letting it all out! We could've seen who was truly stronger but you are still holding back!"

Because of the Warp Seed, Blizza had been transported on the other side of the arena. Berry decided to use this to her advantage and flatten herself to disguise herself as one of the puddles the rain had made. She needed some time to think of a strategy, as well as a breather from Blizza's merciless assaults.

"You're just like the rest of them! Always looking down on me! Thinking I was nothing more than just a replacement!" Blizza shouted across the arena. "All because my _brother _had abandoned our home, I've been living under his shadow all this time! Well no more! I'll prove to them and everyone who's ever doubted me that they're wrong!"

The Hakamo-o looked a little lost in her own world for a moment, but she shook her head. She began to sniff around like a canine, and started getting closer to where Berry was hiding.

Berry began to move a little, knowing she wouldn't be able to hide for long.

"Why do you hide? Why are you like this?!" Blizza shouted as she kept getting closer and closer to Berry. "Did your parents teach you to use cheap tricks? Did you grow up surrounded by weaklings, so now that you have some power you feel the need to look down on everyone else?! You're nothing but a coward who uses others-"

Blizza was interrupted by a suddenly much more powerful Water Pulse attack, it was enough to cause Blizza to fly back a few feet. It felt like she was just hit by a Blastoise's Torrent activated Hydro Cannon attack. Berry glared as she slithered toward Blizza.

"Let me tell you something, Blizza," Berry hissed as the rain began to get harsher around them. "I don't know what kind of life you had growing up, but don't you _ever_ claim to know my life without getting to know me."

Blizza tried to charge towards Berry, but was blasted back by another Hydro Cannon-like Water Pulse.

"You think I had an easy life growing up? You think that I think I'm better than others?" Berry continued as she kept slithering closer to Blizza. "You need to get your head out of your tail hole, Blizza, not everyone is like you or the family you grew up in. Some of us genuinely see ourselves as weak, some of us are actually afraid. And I never claimed to be a dragon or stronger than you!"

The rain grew even harsher. "Those were all _your_ assumptions!"

A whirlpool surrounded Berry's body, starting to morph into a water dragon.

"My family _hated_ me! I was nothing but an ugly slug to them! Only my mother cared about me!" Berry snapped. "I became a Crusader to make something of myself, and to help other Pokemon! So don't _ever_ say I look down on _anyone_! I know all too well what it's like to be at rock bottom!"

Despite the water dragon forming, despite the fact that Berry was explaining her life to Blizza, only one thing mattered to the Hakamo-o, and that Berry was finally ready to go all out. She heard Crimson shouting something to her, but she didn't listen, nor did she care. She grinned as she watched the angry Goomy prepare her attack.

"Then what are you waiting for?! Prove me wrong! Prove to me that you truly are strong! Show me what you got!" Blizza shouted, unfazed by the imminent danger that was approaching.

"Berry!" Shab called out desperately. "Stop! You're better than this!"

The water dragon rose over Berry, glaring down at Blizza, who looked excited.

"Berry, please, you can't let your wild side take over again!" Shab begged, knowing Berry would feel awful about this later.

Berry frowned, despite her anger and focus on Blizza, she did hear Shab's words. Every fiber of her being wanted her to take out Blizza and make her pay for what she said, for what she had been saying. But this wasn't her, this wasn't Berry. This was some unknown Goomy who was too dangerous to set free.

The rain began to calm down, the whirlpool water dragon surrounding Berry suddenly dissipated into nothing but puddle around them.

"No...No no no!" Blizza shouted. "You were _this_ close! Why did you stop?!"

"Because… that wasn't me," Berry answered. "If I want to win… I'd rather it was as myself than whoever that was."

"After all that, you're still looking down on me. Fine, if that's the case, then I'll force you!" Blizza shouted.

Blizza then charged forward, ready to use Dragon Claw. Berry had expected Blizza to attack, so she was ready to jump out of the way. Blizza's claw came close to hitting Berry, but she managed to dodge the attack, though for a moment she thought Blizza had made contact, for she felt something as she dodged her attack. After landing away, she expected Blizza to come charging at her once more, but instead saw the Hakamo-o standing where she once was, giving an unsettling grin.

"I think you lost something," Blizza taunted.

Berry frowned before she noticed something on the ground. It was a small white rock. It wasn't just any white rock, it had a broken string around it. Berry's eyes widened in horror when she didn't feel the Everstone around her body anymore.

"Now you have two choices, evolve and fight me! Or try to suppress your evolution and risk losing. What will it be?" Blizza asked as she started walking towards Berry.

Berry frowned, seeing that the Hakamo-o didn't care if she was fighting dirty, she was desperate for Berry to go all out on her no matter what. Blizza clenched her fist, knowing she would have to trigger Berry's evolution. There were different ways to make a Pokemon evolve when they didn't need a special condition like stones, a particular move, or weather effects. And the fact Berry was wearing an Everstone meant that she didn't need any of those things. One way was to put their body in enough stress to trigger the evolution as a defense mechanism. Blizza came in close to use a Drain Punch attack.

Berry put a seed in her mouth as Blizza came close. Then Berry shot out an explosion of fire in Blizza's face. Blizza was thrown back several feet from the Blast Seed's explosion. While Blizza was recovering from that, Berry quickly picked up the Everstone. She was considering just swallowing the stone altogether.

After recovering, Blizza saw that Berry had recovered her everstone. "So no matter what I do, you still refuse. You're stubborn, I'll give you that."

Blizza then grabbed her last item, another seed, though she didn't eat it.

"I prefer fighting head on, I don't care what tactics my teammates use...But...I'm going to get you to go all out, one way or another!" Blizza shouted as she held the seed tightly.

Berry turned to Blizza, frowning. Her antennae gripping onto the Everstone tightly. Blizza began to spin her body around, covering herself in dark energy again. Berry gasped as she jumped to move back, but Blizza managed to get a scrape with her Brutal Swing, making Berry yelp in pain. Then there was something in the Goomy's mouth. It was too deep in her throat to spit out, so she ended up swallowing it.

When Berry blinked open her eyes again, the world suddenly seemed very different. The arena suddenly looked like a big field of flowers. The Pokemon audience were suddenly a bunch of dancing, giggling plush toys. The Hakamo-o in front of her looked like a giant plush toy that was bouncing around. The giant plush toy then started bouncing towards Berry while swinging its arms. Berry was confused by the toy's action, but thought perhaps it just wanted to play, so when it swung its arms at Berry, she easily dodged the swing.

The plushy then bounced closer at Berry. Berry noticed that the grassy floor was wet somehow, without being muddy. She began to skate with her slimy body to move away from the pouncing plushy. Berry giggled. "If you wanna pounce me, you'll have to catch me~"

There was some kind of noise coming from the plushy, but Berry couldn't make out what it was. The plushy started chasing Berry once more, and she assumed the toy just was playing tag, so she decided to play along, constantly dodging the toy's attempt at tagging her, sliding away each time the plushy got close. Berry was having a blast, but the toy seemed to be making that same noise again, though louder and louder each time. Berry seemed to notice that the plushy was getting annoyed, so she sighed as she stopped.

"Okay, I'll let you tag me then," Berry relented.

The plush toy seemed to go still for a moment. Then suddenly its tail seemed to have gotten longer and harder, and smashed itself into Berry. Berry let out a shocked yell as she was pushed back, she didn't expect the big, soft looking toy to _hurt _her. The little pebble she was holding dropped to the ground.

Berry shook her face, feeling like she was forgetting something important. _Wait… where am I again?_

Her memories were distorted and disjointed. She remembered being a Crusader, going on missions with Dust, and another that was a fish of some kind. She remembered leaving her family to become a Crusader. She remembered going into a scary, watery, dark cave. But _why_ was she in that cave? She then remembered Dust falling ill, because he was poisoned, poisoned by her own goo. She was in Waterfall Cavern. She was trying to get back home to get a Chrysalis Flower. But a big monster was standing in her way. It wanted to kill her. It wanted to eat her friends and family.

The big plushy before her suddenly morphed into the big Goodra, only it looked bigger than she remembered, it looked more distorted. Its eyes looked much more bloodthirsty, it had sharp teeth despite Berry not seeing actual teeth on it before. It had sharp looking claws in the form of green goo. The area around Berry suddenly changed into the Waterfall Cavern.

The nightmarish Goodra let out a roar at Berry and began to charge towards her.

"No! Stay away!" Berry shouted, quickly trying to skate away, but due to her haste, she lost her balance and fell flat on her face.

When Berry got back up, she let out a gasp, for in front of her was Dust, except he was lying on the ground, his body unmoving. There was no sign of the Absol breathing, and the more Berry looked at Dust, the more his body looked like a corpse.

"...No…" Berry whispered as tears started to form in her eyes.

"You killed him." Voices began to accuse.

"He's gone because of you."

"He just wanted to go home, you should've let him."

"You don't deserve to be a Crusader."

Then Berry felt something hard slamming into her, pushing her into a wall. Berry could hardly move. She opened her eyes, seeing the Goodra towering over her. It began to lean towards her. Berry braced herself for the worst, when suddenly she heard a familiar voice, one that she dreaded hearing.

_You know what you must do. _

Berry turned and saw the same shadowy figure speaking to her. She remembered it from the night she had almost evolved.

_You cannot deny who you truly are. _The shadowy figure spoke, getting closer and closer to Berry. _You can never run away from who you are._

"No… stop it…" Berry begged.

But Berry had no strength left to run. The Goodra towered over her, and the shadowy figure was already up on her.

Berry let out a cry as her body started to glow. The glow flickered in and out as Berry did try to resist the process, but she was unable to resist for long. She wanted, needed, out of this nightmare. Maybe the key to getting out of it, was to _become _what she feared most.

"Berry! Remember who you are!" A voice shouted out loud.

It was familiar, and for a moment it caused Berry to forget about the towering Goodra and the shadowy figure. _Dust…?_

It should be impossible, Dust was dead, or was dying. That was why she was here, wasn't it?

"Berry! Please!" The voice shouted louder.

The 'Goodra' in front of her rippled a bit, before shrinking down. Berry's body stopped glowing as her will to stay as a Goomy came back. She could see the figure in front of her was no Goodra, it was a Hakamo-o. A frustrated yet tired one.

"Blizza? What… what did you do to me?" Berry frowned.

Blizza ignored the question, instead she asked her own question. "What is it going to take to get you to fight me seriously?!"

Berry frowned as she realized this wasn't a fight she should be fighting right now. She was too unstable, Blizza was too desperate to get her to fight as her outburst mode, or as her evolved form. She knew that Dust had wanted them to win, he wanted that Gold Rank, but they had already made it to the semi-finals. Chihiro even told them that they were not guaranteed to even rank up even if they won the tournament. All this battle was doing was torturing the two dragons for different reasons. No rank up was worth that.

_I'm sorry, Dust._ Berry mentally apologized to her partner before she took a deep breath and created a ball of purple draconic energy in front of her.

Blizza jumped back as she put her guard up. Despite all of her tireless efforts, it seemed to Blizza that Berry was finally about to go all out. "Took you long enough! Now don't you dare stop! Not until one of us is unable to fight any longer!"

_Heh… don't worry Blizza… you'll get your wish._ Berry thought to herself as she began to build up the Dragon Breath's orb more and more.

The orb became denser, the purble started to turn blue. _Just a little more…_

The blue began to flicker red, and the orb began to look more and more unstable. Berry had no intention of throwing the orb. It soon became apparent when the orb looked ready to burst.

Dust, who had ran out from the medical room earlier to see Berry's fight and give her support despite being told that he needed to recover, was shocked when he saw what Berry was about to do.

"Berry, stop! If you don't it will-" Dust tried to warn Berry.

The orb exploded, sending out a large shockwave of draconic energy across the field. Dust and Shab, as well as Crimson and Patricia were pushed back by the wave. Blizza let out a cry of pain as she was forced into a wall from the shockwave.

When the smoke from the explosion cleared, Blizza fell to the ground, but still conscious. She growled as she forced herself back up onto her feet, only to see Berry laying flat on the ground. The rain she had summoned earlier had stopped. Patricia, after recovering from the shockwave, ran up to Berry to check on her. After a couple seconds, she looked at the crowd while pointing at Blizza.

"Berry is no longer able to fight. It looks like her last attempt at an all out attack backfired. Blizza has won the match, meaning Team Crimson Raiders will go on to the finals!"

"NO!" Blizza shouted as she started walking towards Berry, who was still unconscious. "You did that on purpose! After everything, how dare you pull a stunt like that!"

"Blizza, the match is already over-" Patricia tried to stop Blizza, only for the Hakamo-o to knock her aside. "Somebody stop her!"

"You think I'll accept this?! You think I wanted to win like this?!" Blizza shouted as she was now standing in front of Berry.

Before Blizza could grab the unconscious Goomy, Shab quickly tackled Blizza's arms away as he floated in front of Berry protectively. Dust groaned as his body was still in pain, but he managed to make his way over to Berry as well.

"It's over, Blizza, Berry can't even hear you right now," Dust said.

Blizza growled and looked ready to attack the Absol when familiar claws touched her shoulder.

"Let it go, Blizza," Crimson stated. "You will get your chance to fight with the Goomy again, but for now, let it go before they arrest you."

"But-" Blizza started before Crimson cut her off.

"You want to prove you're better than your brother, right?" Crimson asked.

Blizza glared at Crimson for a moment before taking a deep breath and calming down. She shook Crimson's claw off her shoulder as she started walking away. "Fine."

Crimson looked at his teammate before looking at Dust. "You have an interesting partner Dust, to think Blizza would get this riled up. I don't know what that Goomy's issues are, but she has conviction, I'll give you that. Oh, by the way, I think your partner may need to find a new Everstone."

Before Dust could ask what Crimson meant, the Zoroark tossed pieces of broken stone to him.

"It takes a lot to break these stones, but I guess even she has the power to do so. Makes me wonder what would happen if she finally did let loose. Who knows?" Crimson shrugged before grinning once more. "Well I hope you stay and watch my team win the finals."

Dust frowned as he watched the Zoroark leaving. The Absol turned back to Berry, seeing Shab nudging her a bit. Berry regained consciousness for a moment. She gave a small, apologetic smile at Dust and Shab before closing her eyes and losing consciousness again.

* * *

**DarkFoxKit:** Seriously TM? You just had to anger Mew, didn't you? Can you even answer the questions as a plush toy?

**Dust: **Actually, I'll be answering in his place due to his current condition.

**DarkFoxKit: **… Oh boy, this should be interesting.

**Dust: **Don't worry, I promise to behave. ***Gives a nervous look at Mew, seeing her watching him closely* **Yup, I won't try anything crazy or such.

**Oragonking****: Dust: **Ah yes, Shiny Pokemon are indeed a rare oddity. While I never had met a Shiny Pokemon before, much less a Shiny Salandit, I am curious if me and the others will end up meeting this "White Bandit." As for what Shiny Pokemon you are thinking of...Well despite only being a character myself, you can still PM me. I actually have my own account. Don't ask how, but I would love to see what ideas you have.

**DarkFoxKit:** Shiny Pokemon are awesome… well most of the time. There are quite a few that aren't that good, like… Garchomp's shiny, you can't even tell it's shiny. But regardless of the color, it always feels good to send out that shiny Pokemon and see it sparkle.

**ChloeTheKitsune****: DarkFoxKit: **Yup, and we'll be seeing more of the kidnappers soon.

**FoxyKhai0209****: Dust: **Yes, while unfortunate, we are all grateful for your kind words and concerns. We all hope that DF will be doing well.

**DarkFoxKit:** Thanks. But let's try to stay positive, no point in being depressed over something we can't control. At least it's curable, or so I've been told. Now, as for Chopper, the Guildmaster of Team Aura Force, he kinda has it out for Chihiro, they have a bit of a history together.

Yeah, Berry showing these unexplained power made her a target for these kinds of power hungry Pokemon.

**Dust: **Indeed, there is a mystery behind Berry. But seeing how I'm only a character and I'm not allowed to know what plans TM or DF have for me and the others, your guess is as good as mine.

**DarkFoxKit:** There's a reason why Emerald couldn't sense Icy's aura. And, well, just because Brody is a Lucario doesn't mean he'll be doing any better than Emerald did. He won't be able to find Emerald with aura.

**Dust: **While it's true that Lucario and Riolu are very sensitive to the aura, and that they have an easier time sensing each other, that's usually because they are already familiar with one another. Seeing how Brody and Emerald had never really met, would only make it much more difficult for Brody to recognize Emerald's aura. There are rare moments though where it might be different, but that depends on what will be happening in this story.

**DarkFoxKit:** And we already spoke about the whole fourth member thing.

**Pelibuff****: DarkFoxKit:** I believe this chapter answered your question. We only do parts if the chapter of something turned out to be longer than we anticipated, so rarely would we have more than 2 parts of something.

**Solar Comet****: DarkFoxKit:** I was already hospitalized, that's how I found out about the 1st stage cancer. And the treatment itself will cause me to lose the ability to have my own children. I will be taking the treatment anyways because I'd rather not die at an early age. So I guess I better start looking towards adoption if I want kids in my future.

**Guest #1****: DarkFoxKit:** First, I just want to say that since we see you reviewing a lot, perhaps you should put in a name so we don't just call you 'Guest'? It's only a suggestion though, we'd like to have a name for our regular reviewers.

Okay, sometimes it's difficult to understand what you mean in your writing, and we understand English isn't your first language, so if there is a misunderstanding, we will ask you about what you mean. And yes, Team Volcanic Ash were pretty cocky.

The battle between Crimson and Al was mostly written by TM, so you can talk to him about that one. Dust will have to be the mouthpiece though, since TM is currently a plush toy.

**Dust: **Ah yes, one sec, TM did give me something to read concerning this topic. ***Puts on reading glasses as the Absol starts reading a paper* **Well Crimson had been building up his own stats by constantly using Calm Mind. As well, he knew of Team Destruct's strengths and weaknesses. He made already mades plans specifically for Grant and Brody. He figured Blizza would either beat Al, or at least weakened him enough. And while he was caught off guard by Al surprising feats, Crimson isn't exactly a pushover either. He's done some serious training on his own, and combined that with using a powered up Hyper Beam on Al, well you can see how he managed to win against the Charmeleon.

As for Calcifer and Igneel, unfortunately all that TM wrote is that he can't go into too much detail but that it has been some time since the two have fought.

Al's amnesia is a big mystery, and it might also be why he hasn't evolved yet. After seeing him battle, it's a surprise that he's still a Charmeleon. But when concerning evolution, there are many factors to consider. Take Berry, for example, from what I've seen, her body itself is ready to evolve, but she doesn't want to herself. Evolution depends on the Pokemon's current state of mind, level of strength, as well as their emotional state. Though I can see Al eating an Everstone and not knowing it. I wouldn't be surprised if that was the case.

**DarkFoxKit:** Grant has his own reasons for not evolving into a Sceptile yet, though we won't be revealing those reasons right now. As for Team Crimson Raider's philosophy, yeah, though all three of them; Crimson, Blizza, and Levi, have reasons to think that way. It's mostly due to how they were raised. As for the possibility of changing the Lucerneas Guild's Philosophy through Chompy (the Gible) and Cliff… that remains to be seen.

**Dust: **Well each Guildmaster had their own rooms to watch the tournament from. Plus, from what I understand, Chopper wanted to speak with Chihiro alone concerning the missing Pokmeon. So Eclipse wouldn't really have had a chance to put her own input on that. As for Cliff...I really hope she doesn't find out about that, I can only dread at the thought of her realizing that I unintentionally became a father.

**DarkFoxKit:** That's a lot of good questions you're asking, unfortunately, for the sake of spoilers, we can't answer all of it, like who that serpent shadow was or what kind of Pokemon they are. By the way, Origin Form Giratina is indeed serpentine and a Ghost type, just saying. XP And as for the absorption, it's not a Grass type move, I will say that.

The Salandit outlaw will come into play later, think of it as more of a foreshadowing for something in the future.

Just know that any Pokemon from my other fanfiction story will not be the same here in this story. I can make Rayquaza male or female if I want it to be in this story. They are in completely different universes.

We never said Otti was a Mew, just that she can turn into a Mew. ^^'

**GUEST #2****: DarkFoxKit:** Um… uh… okay… it's really hard to read your words. Just to let you know, we don't have amnesic human characters in this story at this time.

**Dust: **Well my mother had red eyes, but I doubt she'd be the kidnapper. Though as for my father, I honestly have no clue. Well except for my right blue eye, maybe that might have to do with who my father is...or it might be something else completely. But I hope my father isn't the kidnapper, that wouldn't be a very nice way to first meet my dad.

**DarkFoxKit:** Reshiram… has blue eyes… not sure where you got red eyes from.

**Dust: **Blue eyes...that would be incredible if Reshiram was my father and that's why my right eye is blue!

**DarkFoxKit:** Uh… you keep dreaming there, Dust. Also… there's only one crossover we plan to do with this story, and it's not any of those.

**Jewel moonstone****: Dust**: And I'm sure TM and DF are grateful that you enjoyed the chapter. There does seem to be strange things happening. As for the type, I wouldn't be surprised if it was TM. I'll be sure to let him know to be more careful next time.

**DarkFoxKit:** I'm pretty bad about typos too myself.

**Lonleyboi69****: DarkFoxKit:** Thank you for your support, it's very much appreciated. We will try to keep updating when we can as we are quite passionate about this story.

**JazzHipHop****: Dust: **It is very concerning, and I agree. Hopefully we figure this out before it gets too late. Chopper best be careful, a Guildmaster accusing another Guildmaster is very serious and can have a huge repercussion on either Guild Masters.

**Aurora Midnight****: DarkFoxKit:** Heh, actually you're not wrong. Shab is definitely hoping Berry would fall in love with him one day, especially after he evolves. He saw how in awe Berry looked when they saw that wild Milotic swim by them, so he knows Berry would want to see a Milotic again, and he does love her.

**Celestial Song****: Dust: **Why thank you. I'll be sure to let TM know that once he's no longer a plushie. But both him and DF have worked really hard on this story and I know they appreciate knowing that you and others have enjoyed the story so far.

**Greatest Guy****: DarkFoxKit:** Hehehehehehe. :3

**RoadRacer95****: Dust: **Me as well. Though I'm sure me and the others will be able to find more clues concerning this mystery. At least, I hope we do, before it's too late.

**DarkFoxKit:** Of course it's getting darker, we have a protagonist who's a Dark type after all. XP

**Dust: **...You've been hanging out with Chihiro, haven't you?

**DarkFoxKit:** Noooooo… of course not… ***Hides the calendar that had 'game with Chihiro over the weekend' marked on it under the bed***

**Amethyst Soul****: DarkFoxKit:** In a way, you're not wrong about Emerald's eyes being special. Though let's just say she wasn't created by me or TM.

**Guest #3****: Dust: **I actually am tempted to see how much Al can eat before he's officially full. Though you do bring up a good point, maybe Fire types do eat a lot so that they can build up energy for their fire. That would explain why Al has so much fire power, since he has the energy to back him up.

I can't say much for Al's eating habits, but I know that my mother would kill me if I ate the way Al did.

**DarkFoxKit:** Yeah, that's the idea, Al being pretty much the anime protagonist eater of the story. Though there is a reason for that, but we can't get into it right now due to spoilers.

**Guest #4****: DarkFoxKit:** Since Chihiro is an old ghost, she doesn't need to sleep, so she's able to patrol around the rooms her guild were staying in, while the other Guildmasters need to turn in for the night or they would be too tired to watch the tournament and judge accordingly, being a ghost does have its perks. Though it is unfortunate this made Chihiro the prime suspect for being the kidnapper. Don't worry, justice will soon be served… or will it?

**Dust: *On the paper it said "Please don't give Dust any ideas." At reading this, Dust tosses the paper aside. **Uh...TM said that you should tell me more about this "Cram-o-Matic." I'd be very interested in knowing more about it.

**DarkFoxKit: *Writes a note for TM about Dust getting ideas later*** Thank you for your support.

**Sunrise Spirit****: Dust: **Worry not, me and Berry plan on continuing our investigation. Hopefully we can find more clues concerning this mystery.

**The Moonfox Collective****: DarkFoxKit: **Heh, we decided to do something different with the Night Tide vs Crimson Raiders battle, or I guess you could say we decided to go for the more classic Pokemon battle for that one.

Heh, well, I guess we'll see what happens when the culprits are eventually revealed~

**Ivory Spark****: DarkFoxKit:** Geez, a little more optimism would go a long way.

**Dust: **So...uh, Mew? How long do you plan on keeping TM as a plushie?

**Mew:** For as long as I want.

**DarkFoxKit:** If I feed you poffins, would you shorten the time?

**Mew:** Hmmmm… maybe, depends on how much you give me and how good they are~

**DarkFoxKit:** This might take a while...


	32. Chapter 32: The Finals

**DarkFoxKit:** Whew, finally got another chapter done.

**Traveling Master: **Not gonna lie, it's been pretty hectic recently. Just glad we managed to get one done.

**DarkFoxKit:** Our schedule has been all messed up since my treatment started, but we're trying our best to get on by. Hopefully we don't have the quality suffer too much, but the lack of sleep is making it difficult to stay focused for long.

**Traveling Master: **But thank you all for being patient, we'll continue trying our best when we can. But again, glad to know that you are all still sticking with us.

**DarkFoxKit:** And for those of you who have a problem with the story itself, we'd appreciate it if you either give constructive criticism or don't review at all instead of sounding like you're just complaining how we wrote. We've been getting a reviewer who's been doing that recently and it's been discouraging us quite a bit. I know we're not perfect, and we like to take our time with certain things that others may find as a waste of time, but try to remember this is only fanfiction, we're not professional writers, nor can we read your mind to write how you would rather have it written out. You either like it or your don't, it's as simple as that. There's no need to attack the writers.

**Traveling Master: **We understand that there are countless others with many likes and dislikes, opinions and such. But just like DF had said, there's a difference between giving constructive criticism and just plain negative reviews. Most of you have been helpful in the past by giving us advice, and we've been able to improve more because of it. So thank you for that.

**DarkFoxKit:** Now, without further ado, let's get on into the chapter.

* * *

**Chapter 32: The Finals**

Berry slowly opened her eyes, and when she did, she immediately realized where she was; a medical room. She knew that she had cost them the match, but she couldn't keep going with the battle. She saw Dust and Shab nearby, they appeared to have been talking about something.

"Dust? Shab?" Berry called out to them.

Both Dust and Shab looked back after hearing Berry call out their name. They both quickly scramble to Berry while shouting at the same time. "Berry!"

"Are you okay, Berry? You took a pretty big hit from that explosion," Shab asked in concern.

"I'm fine… don't worry, I made sure it didn't blow up directly on my face," Berry reassured. "I just mostly feel tired."

"Well after a battle like that, I'd be surprised if you weren't tired," Dust smiled, though it seemed kinda forced.

Berry gave a sigh. "I'm sorry, Dust… I cost us the match, and likely our chances to get the Gold Rank…"

Dust frowned as he looked away, deep in thought. Berry was wondering what was going through the Absol's mind, whether Dust would be angry or disappointed, Berry just prepared herself for whatever Dust was planning on saying, if he said anything at all.

After looking away for a bit, Dust looked back at Berry, smiling once more as he shook his head. "Let me ask you, did you end up losing control? Or evolving when you didn't want to?"

"Well… the latter is pretty obvious, I am still a Goomy," Berry remarked. "But… well, I guess I came close to losing control back there, but I was able to stop it. Blizza wasn't too happy about it though. Also… thank you, Shab… you kept me from losing it."

Shab smiled. "I'm glad I was able to help a little."

"Well, the way I see it, you may have lost the battle, but in the end I think you truly won," Dust chimed. "If you had won, but at the cost of losing yourself, then I believe we would've truly lost. So don't worry Berry, you didn't cost us the match."

Despite smiling the whole time, Dust was truly disappointed, but not in Berry or Shab. Instead he was disappointed with himself. _Not Berry, the only one to truly blame was me. If I hadn't taken the Duel challenge… we likely could've won…_

"Dust? Are you… okay?" Berry asked in concern.

Dust realized he was deep in his thoughts, so he quickly nodded. "I assure you, I'm fine. We may have lost the match, but we've come pretty far, and I think we've proven to Chihiro that we are deserving of a higher rank, whatever it may be."

"The important thing is we got as far as we did, on our first time participating, that has to say something," Shab stated. "You should be proud, Dust."

"Heh, I didn't think we would come as far as we did to be honest," Berry chuckled sheepishly. "Sure you made a mistake, but you're only Pokemon, after all. At least your mistake didn't nearly drown some teams."

Dust chuckled slightly. "True, well how are you feeling now? Do you want to rest some more? I think Team Silkwing's match is almost over, we could try catching what's left of it, though I wouldn't be surprised if they had already finished."

"Wait… Berry, do you feel like you could move?" Shab asked.

Berry stretched her body a little, hissing a little. "I feel a little sore, but… I think I'll be fine otherwise."

"Would it be easier if you rode on me?" Dust offered.

"Yeah… glad to see you have the Pecha Scarf back on though," Berry remarked before she remembered something. "Wait… my Everstone! Where's my Everstone?"

Dust and Shab looked at each other, both frowning as Dust grabbed something from his bag. "Well it turns out your explosion ended up shattering the Everstone."

Dust then showed Berry the few remaining pieces of the Everstone that were left on his paw.

"Oh… I… broke it…" The Goomy frowned, staring at the pieces of the Everstone.

"But it's okay, Berry! We can always go back to the guild to get a new one, right?" Shab said, hoping to reassure the Goomy he loved.

Berry sighed before she nodded. "Yeah… I guess, since our fight here at the tournament is over, I won't have to worry about suddenly evolving for a while, I hope."

"Then let's head back to the guild and take care of that. Better to do it now then later," Dust agreed before getting close to Berry. "Alright, hop on when you're ready. I'll make sure not to go fast."

"Thanks," Berry said before she slithered onto Dust's back.

Shab hopped up onto Berry's head. Dust chuckled, seeing that they were a trio of stacks. The Absol began leaving the medical room. Dust barely took a step out of the room when something ended up crashing into him. Luckily whatever crashed into him was so light that Dust almost didn't even noticed. Looking at the ground, he was surprised to see a familiar Dreepy, with their eyes swirling.

"Phantom?" Dust asked, surprised to see the Dreepy.

The Dreepy blinked their eyes before they quickly floated up. "Team Night Tide! I'm glad I found you!"

The voice indicated that this was Spooks rather than Phantom, and he seemed rather frantic.

"Is something wrong, Spooks?" Berry asked in concern.

"I-its...it's…" Spooks tried to speak, but his stuttering was getting out of hand as tears began to roll down on the side of his face.

Seeing the young Dreepy crying, Dust put a comforting paw on the Dreepy and brought him for a hug. After raising a baby Larvitar, Dust had a better idea on how to comfort a young Pokemon when they were upset about something. Dust felt Berry slithering around his body, and towards his chest. She then nudged Spooks to try to calm him down. Shab nudged as well.

"Shhhh… it's going to be okay… try to calm down, Spook, and we might be able to help with whatever's going on," Berry comforted gently.

Dust walked back into the Medical room and got on top of one of the beds. He kept holding Spooks close, sensing that he was starting to calm down. After another minute or so the young Dreepy had stopped crying, with Dust's fur mostly covered in tears and slime.

"Feeling better?" Dust asked. Spooks nodded as he wiped his tears away. "Alright, tell us what's wrong."

Spooks nodded again before he took a deep breath, making Dust's scientific side wonder if a Ghost type needed to breathe at all, before Spooks answered. "It started… just after Team Silkwing defeated Team Vanguard…"

* * *

***Flashback***

I was with Phantom and Cliff while we watched the battle. Grandma was just behind us, speculating. Team Silkwing were announced the winners, and the Mawile announcer said that they will be taking a break before the finals. We were going to go out to get something to eat, when suddenly Chopper the big meanie Garchomp walked over with the big Magnezone officer behind him. The officer had two of his deputies with him; a Magneton, and a Magnemite. They looked really scary and serious when they approached Grandma.

"What's going on here?" Grandma asked, though from the look of her face, she seemed to already have an idea why they were here.

"Chihiro, you are accused of kidnapping Pokemon during the tournament events," The Magnezone explained. "Until you are proven innocent or guilty, we will need you to come with us as we prepare an investigation."

"And on what accounts do you have to suspect me?" Grandma asked before looking at Chopper. "I thought I had explained myself to you yesterday that I wasn't the one behind the missing Pokemon."

Chopper gave a scary looking grin at Grandma. "We got an interesting bit of information from an anonymous Pokemon. They told us that it had been rumored and confirmed that the kidnapper had red eyes."

"That alone shouldn't be enough to accuse me," Grandma countered. "You have any idea how many Pokemon there are with red eyes? Besides, last I checked, my eyes are mostly yellow, not red."

"True, but you do have red eyelids. When you close your eyes, they appear red. And with your sharp senses, Chihiro, you wouldn't need your eyes open to see your victim," Chopper pointed out. "And right now, you are the primary suspect."

Before Grandma could even say another word, Magnazone spoke up. "Chihiro, is it true that you have been staying late at night during these past few days?"

Grandma frowned. "It is. But I stayed near my own guild teams, I did not go anywhere else that would warrant suspicion."

"I am sorry, but with all these new claims, right now you are the prime suspect. Please come with us, once we investigate the missing Pokemon, then we can determine if you are free to go," Magnazone explained before turning to Eclipse. "We also are asking for your assistance, Eclipse."

"Why me?" Eclipse asked.

"If it turns out Chihiro is truly the culprit, we would need the assistance of a Dark type to handle her, and we believe you are more than capable enough of handling Chihiro, if the needs should arise," Magnazone said.

"I understand," Eclipse sighed before looking at Chihiro. "Don't worry, we'll get your name cleared as soon as possible."

"It's not me I'm worried about," Grandma frowned, as she took a quick glance at me, my sister and Cliff. "Fine, I will comply and go with you. Oh Chopper, I do hope you do realize what will happen when I am proven innocent."

Chopper grinned, making me shiver. "Save it for the judge."

"Wait, you can't take Grandma! She would never do such a thing!" Phantom shouted suddenly, flying between all the big scary grown-ups.

"Is Grandma Chihiro in trouble?" Cliff asked innocently, having started calling Grandma 'Grandma' as well.

I was scared, I wanted to stand up for Grandma as well, but I was terrified that I would get hurt and arrested too. My sister already spoke up for Grandma, Cliff didn't seem sure as to what was going on, and I was scared out of my wits. I was shivering in the corner, hoping nobody would notice me.

"Phantom… please, don't make this hard for yourself. I'll be fine, don't worry, they'll see that I'm innocent like you do," Grandma reassured Phantom.

"Chihiro, it's time to go," Magnazone spoke up.

"Not until you get someone to take these children to Carrie, she's a Kangaskhan, and my assistant," Grandma spoke up. "I want to at least make sure my grandchildren are safe. That includes the Larvitar."

Then there was a shadowy figure coming up, I didn't look at them since I was using this time to try to sneak away. All the grown-ups were distracted by this Pokemon, this was my opportunity.

"Perhaps I could help," The Pokemon said before I flew through a wall.

* * *

"And I kept going until I found you guys…" Spooks finished with a sigh.

"To think Guildmaster Chopper actually went through with it," Dust noted. "But I know that they will prove your Grandma innocent."

"She _is_ innocent. I don't know why they arrested her in the first place." Spooks frowned.

"Like you said in the story, she was the prime suspect," Shab explained. "But don't worry, once they find out she's innocent, they'll let her out."

"But what's going to happen to the guild members without Grandma there to protect them?" The Dreepy asked in concern.

Dust now realized that with Chihiro gone, no one was left to watch over the other members. Not wanting to cause Spooks to worry more, he thought of a probable solution. "Not to worry, since we are not too far from the guild, I think the best solution is for the others to quickly return to the guild. That way they can't possibly be taken. We can just explain to them the current situation. I'm sure that they will understand."

"You really think so?" Spooks asked, feeling hopeful.

"Yeah, we just need to find the others and tell them," Berry assured.

"Team Night Tide! Good, I'm glad to see you're well enough to leave the medical room," The Stufful spoke up, with Bewear behind them as usual.

Dust was surprised to see the Stuffel, but quickly replied."Oh yes, we are doing well. We were in fact about to-"

Stufful held up a paw, cutting Dust off. "Sorry, but right now everyone will be going to watch the finals."

"Okay, but first we were hoping to-" Dust tried replying, only to get cut off once more.

"Sorry, no can do. While normally any one is free to walk around the stadium during matches, right now everyone has to go to the finals." Stufful explained. "It's the final match in the tournament, not counting the exhibition match with a Gold Rank team if the winner chooses to face them of course. Everyone needs to be there."

"I think we can watch the finals, and then warn our fellow Unity Guild members to go back to the guild," Berry suggested. "I doubt anyone would kidnap them during the finals with so many Pokemon around."

Dust looked back at Berry and the others, part of him felt that they should warn the others, but he didn't see the harm in waiting until after the finals. "True, plus we should be there to give Team Silkwing our support."

"Perfect, now you best hurry, the finals are going to start soon," Stufful advised before leaving as the Bewear followed behind.

"Right, and Spooks, after warning the others, we'll go look for Phantom and Cliff, I'm sure they are worried about you too," Dust noted.

"Yeah, okay… They said they would take them to Carrie," Spooks stated.

"Well, for now, just stick with us," Berry remarked.

Spooks nodded. "Thank you for this, Team Night Tide."

"No problem, that was Crusader are for," Dust replied as before they all started heading towards the arena to watch the final match.

* * *

Dust and the others had just found some seats as Patricia came to the center of the arena. Dust saw that the crowd was brimming with all sorts of Pokemon, all who had been waiting for this moment. A spotlight shines on where Patricia was currently standing, as to grab everyone's attention.

"Alright folks, since the beginning of this tournament, we've witnessed many fighters and their exemplary skills. We saw incredible battles, unbelievable attacks and coordination. Many teams have fought hard, and while they gave it their best, it only comes down to the final two!" Patricia paused for a moment as the crowd cheered. After a couple of seconds the Mawile continued as she pointed towards one side of the arena. "On this side, showing us how strong and resilient they are, I give you Team Crimson Raiders!"

The spotlight then went to where Crimson and his team were. The Zoroark led his team towards the center of the arena as he occasionally gave a brief wave to the audience. Blizza was scowling the whole time as she followed close behind. For a brief moment Berry saw the Hakamo-o glaring at her, and could tell that Blizza was already in a foul mood. Berry quickly picked up Shab with her antennae and held him in front of her, hoping to hide away from some of Blizza's heated glare. Of course, this set Shab up for Levi to glare at. Dust only stared at Crimson as he was reminded of his mistakes.

_That could've been us down there, if only I hadn't messed up so bad. _Dust thought to himself as Team Crimson Raiders finally made it to the center.

The crowd was cheering loudly. Then Patricia began to announce the other team. "And finally, for the team that had surprised many, and had been able to overcome whatever challenges they had to face with outstanding teamwork, I give you Team Silkwing!"

With that, a Starly and Butterfree came flying in with a Snivy bouncing between the two, showing off a bit before they landed beside the Mawile. Team Crimson Raiders were staring at these three as Patricia went to greet the two teams.

"Alright, you all have worked hard, fought many battles and proven that you deserve to be here," Patricia started.

"Tch, might as well just declare us the winners," Blizza remarked. "This final round already seems like a let down."

"Yeah, there's no way these little weaklings would pose much of a challenge to us," Levi agreed, and being the tallest of Team Crimson Raiders, was glaring down at Team Silkwing.

"My, how little you think of us," Ivy remarked, not backing down.

"They do bring up a fair point," Crimson spoke up. "Even I know this battle will be pointless, so how about we at least try to make this interesting and have ourselves a duel."

"Another duel?" Patricia asked. "My, your team sure does have a lot of confidence. Alright, Talon, since you are the leader, it's your call. Do you accept Crimson's challenge to a duel?"

Tippi and Ivy looked at Talon, who was their team leader. Talon hopped forward as he looked up at the Zoroark. "Sorry, but I'm going to have to decline. My team works best together rather than apart."

"Suit yourself," Crimson shrugged before turning to face Blizza and Crimson. "You two should be able to handle them on your own. Try not to hurt them too much. And Levi, please refrain from almost destroying the arena, we don't want to be disqualified due to your mistake."

The Gyarados did wince a little bit. "I promise I'll refrain myself. I wasn't used to this new kind of rage, but I'm better prepared for it now."

"Huh, so a Pokemon that's newly evolved has to watch out for new kinds of changes rather than just their bodies?" Dust noted with interest. "I always thought a Pokemon would instinctively know how to use their newly evolved forms, but I guess I was wrong."

"That is true for some Pokemon, but others can usually get the hang of their bodies and new emotions or instincts pretty quickly," Shab explained. "I was just lucky Levi didn't take into account of her rage when she became a Gyarados."

Levi and Blizza took their position as Crimson walked to the side of the stage. He smirked as he crossed his arms, wondering how Team Silkwing would try to attempt to win this match. Despite having an opponent tower over them, Team Silkwing looked as determined as ever.

"One thing is for sure, Team Crimson Raiders are definitely underestimating their opponent," Shab commented.

"So you think Team Silkwing can win then?" Dust asked, to which the Feebas nodded. "Then the best of luck to them."

"I know it's definitely possible," Berry agreed. "It just depends on how they handle the battle."

Then Dust noticed a silver scarf on Tippi's neck, he hadn't noticed it before.

"What's that scarf on Tippi's neck?" Dust questioned.

"I think it's a Silver Scarf," Berry answered, squinting her eyes. "I've heard that they're usually filled with Silver Powder that helps power up Bug type moves."

"Fascinating," Dust replied before taking a quick glance at Shab's scarf that was tied at the base of the Feebas's tail fin. _He said it was just for looks, but I wonder if there's more to it._

"Alright!" Patricia shouted, getting Dust's attention. "It looks like both teams are ready to start this match! Team Crimson Raiders, are you ready!?"

Both Blizza and Levi nodded, eager to get this match over with. Patricia then turned to Team Silkwing as she pointed her mic at them.

"Team Silkwing, are you ready!?" Patricia asked.

"YEAH!" Ivy shouted loudly.

"We're ready!" Talon said loudly, not as loud as Ivy, but was still enthusiastic.

"... Um… yeah," Flutter said the quietest, being the shy Butterfree that she was.

Patricia brought her arm up, seeing both teams watching her in anticipation, waiting for her to start the match. Waiting a couple seconds for dramatic affect, Patricia then brought down her arm while shouting, "BEGIN!"

Talon started by flying up a bit before coming in towards Crimson with Quick Attack, leaving a silver streak behind him. Due to his small size, he easily zoomed past Levi and Blizza and slammed into Crimson's head. Crimson started falling back, but he quickly recovered, though he winced when he felt where Talon had previously hit him. Talon quickly flew up out of reach to avoid getting hit by retaliation or grabbed. Levi, being as big as she was, tried to catch the Starly with her teeth, but Talon was too fast for her and avoided her Bite attack.

Tippi was flying towards them while carrying Ivy. Ivy looked like she had big butterfly wings as the two of them flew over Team Crimson Raiders. Tippi began to spread out purple powder-like spores at the three team. Ivy then smirked as the leaf on her tail glowed blue before she swung it, creating a twister-like wind to spread the poisonous looking spore.

Crimson reacted by using Flamethrower around him, burning the spores around him. Blizza and Levi weren't so lucky, with the Gyarados taking the blunt of the attack while Blizza took cover behind Levi. After the poison twister combo had ceased, most of Levi's body was covered in purple spores, and the Gyarados looked rather fatigued.

"That is a deadly combo," Dust commented. "Surprised to see Ivy using a dragon type move like Twister, wonder where she learned that."

"Wait, Twister is a Dragon type move?" Berry asked. "You sure? It looked more like a Flying type move to me."

"That is the common misconception of the move, though I can understand why you would think that," Dust replied. "While Twister looks more like a Flying type move, I can assure you it's actually a Dragon type attack. Just imagine if Ivy was actually a dragon, the attack would've been more devastating."

"Let's just be glad we don't have to deal with it…" Shab remarked. "Although… it wouldn't be a bad idea to learn a Dragon type attack…"

"Blizza, how about instead of using me as a shield, you help out!" Levi yelled at her teammate.

"You're the only one who can reach them, so how about you stop complaining and actually manage to bite one of them!?" Blizza countered.

Despite having been attacked recently, Crimson still remained off to the side. He shook his head as he watched Blizza and Levi argue with each other.

While the two dragon-like Pokemon were arguing, Tippi was flying over them again, this time spreading out yellow looking spores. Ivy, this time, used a different move. Her tail glowed green before she spread out another twister-like attack, only this one was full of leaves. The leaves absorbed the Stun Spore, turning into sharp leaves with Stun Spore powder on them. Crimson was the only one to escape, however, he didn't escape from Talon's keen eyes.

Talon flew at Crimson with another Quick Attack, tackling him as he went back and fourth at Crimson, doing more damage with each Quick Attack.

"Shouldn't you be helping your teammates instead of just watching from the sidelines?" Talon asked, making sure to keep a safe distance from Crimson.

The Zoroark simply crossed his arms before replying. Despite having been attacked multiple times by Talon, he seemed to have brushed it off. "I've meant what I said back then, so I see no reason to help them. If your teammates happen to beat mine, then you have earned the right to fight me. But for now, I'm gonna continue watching, you can do as you please."

Talon glared at the Zoroark. "That… You have Calm Mind, don't you?"

Crimson didn't answer, instead he only grinned at the Starly. Talon quickly flew towards to his teammates. Levi and Blizza were having trouble moving due to the leaves that cut through their scales and leaving behind the yellow spores on their body.

"The opponent's leader is getting stronger. So, we'll have to get faster," Talon stated to Ivy and Tippi. "Just like we practiced!"

Tippi and Ivy nodded. Talon began to move around both of them quickly, his body covered in a blue aura. The blue aura surrounded Tippi and Ivy as well.

"What are they doing?" Berry asked.

Dust recognized the aura, having seen it before. "That's just like Team Rocket's match. They plan on using Agility!"

"Shh! Don't say that so loud!" Berry hissed. "If Team Crimson Raiders don't know what they're doing, it'll take them by surprise."

"I like the way you think, my sweet Berry~" Shab smiled.

Levi, getting angry, powered up a Hyper Beam in her mouth. She shot out a bright golden and red beam from her mouth at the Butterfree and Starly.

"Disperse!" Talon ordered.

Talon and Tippi flew in different directions in a much faster speed than anticipated by Levi, Tippi was still carrying Ivy. The Hyper Beam missed them completely and hit the barrier instead.

"You're slow!" Blizza growled. "You should've waited until _after_ the tournament to evolve! Or evolved before it so you could've practiced being in that giant body!"

"Shut up! You would've done the same if you were still a Jangmo-o fighting that stupid purple blob!" Levi countered. "Which, might I add, you almost lost to, despite being evolved!"

Berry quickly started slithering behind Dust as Blizza's face turned red with rage. Tippi flew in low before dropping Ivy beside the angry Hakamo-o. The Snivy grinned at Blizza.

"Hi~ Sorry I'm not a dragon, but here's a Dragon type attack for you to chew on," Ivy remarked.

Ivy's tail glowed blue before she began to spin around Blizza, trapping her in a twister attack. Blizza was caught up in the Twister, but she wasn't going down without a fight. With her long tail, Blizza's tail turned into steel and she managed to swing her tail at Ivy. The Iron Tail slammed into Ivy's side, which caused her to go flying a few feet before hitting the ground and rolling on it a few more feet.

"Jeez… she does hit pretty hard…" Ivy groaned from the ground.

"If you think that pathetic excuse for a Dragon attack is enough to take me down, you got another thing coming! Let me show you a real Dragon attack!" Blizza yelled before charging at Ivy with Dragon Claw.

But the paralysis kicked in, Blizza's body went completely numb and she fell to one knee, panting. Ivy grinned as she stood up. "I know you have me beat when it comes to raw power and strength alone. Which is why I have my teammates backing me up with their own moves~ Even the toughest Pokemon will fall when they're not completely healthy!"

Ivy shot out two vines from her neck, and wrapped around Blizza's waist. Blizza growled as she was trying to fight through the paralysis. Ivy lifted up the Hakamo-o before she slammed Blizza down to the arena. Levi looked at Ivy, and while she liked seeing Blizza getting her karma, the Gyarados knew she should at least try to help her teammate. Levi started to move towards Ivy, opening her mouth as her teeth glowed, intending to use bite.

"You look grumpy," Tippi suddenly spoke up from above the Gyarados.

"What!?" Levi growled, looking up at the Butterfree.

"Maybe you should take a quick nap?" Tippi suggested innocently as blue powder started coming out of her wings.

"What are you…" Levi started, but because she was so close to Tippi, she ended up taking in a lot of the Sleep Powder. "...talking….about…."

The Sleep Powder took effect as the Gyarados tried to stay awake, but with each passing second, Levi found it harder and harder to keep her eyes open. Meanwhile, Blizza managed to break free of the vines. She was badly damaged, but she was not ready to give up.

"Is that...all you got?!" Blizza shouted between deep breaths.

Ivy just smirked. "Oh, I got plenty more, though I think you shouldn't be focusing on me right now."

Ivy then pointed up, causing Blizza to look and see that Levi's body was going limp, having succumbed to the Sleep Powder. The Gyarados was starting to fall right where Blizza was standing. The Hakamo-o tried to move, but the paralysis prevented her from getting out of the way.

"Levi, wake up you stupid overgrown fish! You're going to crush-" Blizza called out to Levi, but never finished as the Gyarados ended up landing right on top of Blizza.

While Levi was on top of Blizza, Ivy passed by them leisurely before putting a seed on Blizza's forehead scale, and another seed on Levi's scales. As soon as the seeds took root, they grew out vines around the two dragon-like Pokemon, and began to suck away their power and health, making Ivy grow healthier and fixing up her own wounds.

Talon thought that perhaps now Crimson would come to the aid of his teammates, but the Zoroark still watched, not making any moves to help them out.

_He's either overconfident, doesn't care for his teammates, or he's planning something._ Talon frowned, watching Crimson cautiously.

Tippi flew over to Talon. "Is something wrong, Talon? You look worried."

"Just trying to figure out what Crimson is up to, he looks too calm for someone who's teammates are on the ropes," The Starly answered. "Tippi, keep a lookout for anything unusual with your Compound Eyes, he can use illusions. For all I know, the Crimson I'm looking at is just an illusion and the real one is stalking somewhere, waiting for an opportunity to attack."

Tippi nodded, making sure to keep an eye on Crimson in case he tried anything, but the Zoroark still remained standing there, arms crossed as he grinned at Team Silkwing.

"Levi...Wake up already!" Blizza shouted while trying to break free, but found her strength was being sapped away. "Oh once I break free, you guys are gonna regret-"

"Oh shut up," Ivy remarked as she used her vines to clamp down Blizza's maw. "I'm sick of hearing you shout, you hot air dragon."

"... Wish I was as sassy and brave as Ivy…" Berry muttered.

Levi was still asleep and made no indications of waking up. Blizza was fuming mad at having vines shut her mouth. She pushed harder and harder, but the weight of the Gyarados combined with the Leech Seed sapping her strength was proving too much. Plus, her body was still numb from the previous spores, but there was more. Even though Blizza had used Levi as a shield to protect her from the Poison Powder, it seemed as though she wasn't able to completely avoid it.

Blizza's vision started to go blurry, and when she realized that she might pass out, she tried once more to break free. But try as she might, her body refused to move, her vision darkened, and for a moment, she thought she saw someone else. Someone who she held a deep grudge for. The last thing she could see was a Kommo-o looking at her with a disappointed expression. Blizza soon lost consciousness.

Ivy let go of Blizza's maw, seeing that she was out of it. And Levi would soon follow if she doesn't wake up soon. The Leech Seed and Poison will sap away all of the Gyarados's strength.

Despite having both teammates unconscious, Crimson started clapping slowly, in a condescending way. "Congratulations, you managed to beat an inexperienced Gyarados, and got the upperhand on Blizza. Now what shall I ever do?"

Talon frowned as he looked at Crimson. "I'm going in, Tippi. You watch my back."

Talon began to dive towards the Zoroark with another Quick Attack.

"Should you be focused on me right now? I think you should be worried about your teammates," Crimson advised.

Talon took a quick glance behind him and saw a Zoroark behind Tippi and Ivy. "Tippi, Ivy, look out-"

Talon had shouted out his warning at first to his teammates, when he suddenly felt something hard hit his body. The blow knocked the wind out of him, but Talon managed to recover, gaining some distance between him and Crimson. Talon shook his head a little.

_Was that Double Team? Or… illusions?_ Talon frowned as he noticed the Crimson from behind Ivy and Tippi disappeared. _I see… he is using illusions._

"Well call me impressed, at least you didn't go out in one blow. I was worried for a second that my Sucker Punch might have been too much," Crimson taunted. "Well, since it's now one vs three, I think the odds are now fair. So let's get started, shall we?"

"You're definitely confident, I'll give you that," Ivy grumbled. "In an arrogant way."

Tippi flew a little closer to Crimson. She wanted to use her spores, but Talon was too close, unlike Ivy, he wasn't immune to her spores, and she didn't want to incapacitate a teammate.

"Now let's see you handle this," Crimson challenged before charging up a Hyper Beam.

Talon quickly flew away, trying to get away from Crimon's Hyper Beam, Ivy quickly ran too, not wanting to get caught up in that. Tippi, however, appeared to be looking elsewhere. For a moment she saw something shift as it seemed to be moving towards where Ivy was running to. Trusting her instincts, Tippi flew towards to where she was looking and started using Silver Wind in that direction. The Butterfree sent out winds with silver spike-like energy from her wings.

Ivy, who was unaware of what Tippi was doing, stopped in her tracks when Crimson suddenly appeared. He grinned at her before opening his mouth, flames starting to come out. But just as Crimson was about to use Flamethrower, he's suddenly pushed back by Silver Wind. The Silver Wind's spikes stung Crimson badly, he was weak to the attack.

Crimson looked at Tippi, noticing that she was keeping a very close look on him. _Don't tell me that Butterfree has Compound Eyes?!_

Ivy looked up and saw that Tippi had managed to stop Crimson in time. "Thanks Tippi, I almost got roasted just now."

"It's not over yet," Tippi warned.

Crimson growled, realizing that the Butterfree was going to make using his illusions much harder. He jumped back to get some distance between him and Team Silkwing. As he thought of a new strategy, he grinned as he grabbed something from his bag. _Alright, illusions aren't the only tricks I have._

Crimson then focused as he closed his eyes for a moment. Suddenly there were now 9 Zoroarks, and each of them charged at each member of Team Silkwing, spitting into groups of 3.

"Tippi! Can you tell which is the real one?" Talon asked as he flew closer to the Butterfree.

"Give me a second…" Tippi looked around at the group of 3, which were moving around quickly. "Over… over there!"

Tippi began to create more silver energy spikes with her wings, when a small seed was tossed through the air, having the Silver Wind break it open in front of the Butterfree, causing pink smoke to surround her. Tippi's red eyes widened as her Silver Wind missed Crimson completely, and the world around her began to spin.

"Tippi?" Talon frowned, noticing Tippi was acting a little weird.

Tippi turned to the Starly, seeing him suddenly morph into Crimson. She let out a surprised scream before she shot out Silver Wind at Talon, pushing him back.

"Tippi! What's wrong?" Talon shouted, flying back a bit.

Tippi didn't answer Talon, instead, she began to release purple powder at Talon. Talon quickly flew away from the Poison Powder.

"I think she's confused!" Ivy spoke up to Talon. "That seed that broke in front of her was likely a Totter Seed!"

"Well I couldn't let her keep track of my way abouts," One of the Zoroark replied, before another one continued. "So I decided to make things more interesting. Now what will you do? Focus on me as your teammates mistakenly attacks you? Or perhaps try to help her, while giving me another opportunity to attack?"

Talon glared before he flew down and landed, leaving himself vulnerable. "Ivy, you have the item bag, hurry and give _it_ to Tippi. I'll deal with Crimson."

"Interesting, all right, I'm game, let's see what you got," Crimson taunted as the other Zoroarks vanished. "I wonder, will you get knocked out first before that Butterfree beats Ivy?"

Talon narrowed his eyes. "Then why don't you attack me and then we'll see?"

"Well, if you insist," Crimson replied when he suddenly vanished and appeared right next to Talon, already preparing his next attack. "Try not to go unconscious too fast."

Ivy ran towards Tippi, who was using Stun Spore now. Ivy ran through it easily, her Grass typing protecting her from Tippi's spores, but the Silver Wind was a different story. _Please don't use Silver Wind._

Talon braced himself, knowing that he had to remain bait for Crimson to play with while Ivy went through Tippi's spore attacks to try to get her the item she needed. _Hold on… hold on… you can do it!_

The illusions of Crimson kept coming closer and closer, Talon tried not to jump at each one that came in too close. Talon decided to shut his eyes, the illusions couldn't fool him if he couldn't see. Though this didn't stop Crimson from attacking him more. Talon tried listening for the real one, but all the illusions were talking at once, making it harder to anticipate Crimson's next attack.

Tippi had been frantically avoiding what she assumed was Crimson, thinking that the Zoroark was targeting her cause of her Compound Eyes. She found it a bit strange that Crimson kept calling out her name, and hadn't been attacking, but she assumed it was a trick. She knew she had to avoid Crimson, in case he tried his illusions or something else.

"Dang it, Tippi! Stop flying away and take your dang medicine!" Ivy shouted as Tippi kept flying out of her reach.

Ivy looked back for a moment and saw the beating Talon was taking. She figured out what he was planning, but unless she snapped Tippi out of her confusion soon, Talon may not even have a chance to use his plan.

"Sorry, Tippi, but this is gonna sting for a bit," Ivy apologized as her tail glowed green.

Ivy then used Twister, making sure that Tippi was caught in the middle of it. Unable to fly out of the Twister, Ivy took her chance and used Vine Whip to grab onto the Butterfree and pull herself up. The moment her vines wrapped around Tippi, she started freaking out more, thinking that Crimson had managed to grab her, even though she was high in the air.

As a last resort, Tippi was about to use Silver Wind on Crimson, hoping to stop him. But just as she was about to use her attack, the Zoroark placed something in her mouth. At first she was worried that Crimson might have put a harmful seed in her mouth, but suddenly Crimson started to shift in front of her, and instead of seeing a Zoroark, she saw Ivy, bracing herself from her attack.

"Ivy?!" Tippi asked in shock.

"Nice to see you can see me as me again, Tippi, you were confused and kept attacking your teammates," Ivy explained.

"Ivy I'm so sorry-" Tippie started apologizing until Ivy cut her off.

"It's all good, but save the apologies for later. Right now Talon needs our help, he's going for _that _plan," Ivy said while pointing at Ivy. "We need to help him find the real Crimson before it's too late."

Talon was barely holding on, he managed to defend himself from Crimson's attacks, but he still couldn't figure out which Zoroark was the real one, and he'd end up receiving a hard blow either to his body, no matter how hard he had tried to anticipate the oncoming attacks. But he knew he had to hold on for as long as possible in order for his plan to work, but that all depends if Ivy had successfully helped Tippi.

For a brief moment the attacks ceased, causing Talon to open his eyes. He then saw that each Zoroark had surrounded him in a circle, all smirking at him.

"As fun as it is tossing your body around like a ragdoll, I think it's time to put this to an end. Once I'm done with you, I'll make sure to make quick work of the others," all the Zoroark spoke at the same time.

Talon's eyes widened as he saw each one open their mouths as energy started building up, similar to how Crimson used Hyper beam on Al and Dust, the Zoroark was preparing to do the same to Talon.

"Talon!" Ivy called out in alarm, seeing that the Zoroark was powering up a Hyper Beam.

Tippi quickly dived down at the Zoroark and flapped her wings frantically, creating winds of silver to blow back the Zoroark before he could finish off Talon. Crimson let out a screech as the Silver Wind really hurt, and fell back a bit. Tippi and Ivy quickly went over to the injured Starly.

"You should eat an Oran Berry, you don't look so good, Talon," Tippi said in worry.

"N-no… no, this is fine," Talon reassured.

Having been hit by Tippi's attack, his illusions had all disappeared. Grunting, he got up before addressing the others. "Heh, didn't expect you to come to your senses so soon. Maybe this won't be so boring after all."

Talon narrowed his eyes at the Zoroark's bag. "Ivy… he likely has an Oran Berry… when he tries to attack me again, I want you to try to sneak your vines into his bag to take it out."

Despite his previous comment, Crimson was frowning, seeing his situation getting rather more annoying. _Now that Butterfree is back to her senses, it looks like I'm back to square one. No problem, their leader is almost done, and once he falls, it'll be easy to take the other two out._

Crimson looked at the weakened Starly and grinned, he just had to take him out and victory would be within his grasp. Talon was looking straight at Crimson. If he had an Oran Berry, then Crimson deduced he would be eating it right now in this short time of respite, so Talon likely didn't have any Oran Berries. Ivy ran off in a direction while Crimson looked at her for a second, then he began to cast an illusion on himself, making him 'invisible' while the illusion charged at Team Silkwing. Tippi might be able to see him, but Crimson just had to grab the Oran Berry in his bag and eat it.

Ivy frowned, she sent out a vine at the illusion, only for it to go through him. _Distortion World! That's an illusion!_

Sadly for the Snivy, it was too late, Crimson chomped down on the berry, his wounds instantly healing. Tippi noticed this. "Talon, that's an illusion, the real one just ate his Oran Berry."

Despite the situation, Talon gave a grin. "That might be our best case scenario then."

"I think you might've taken too many blows to the head, Talon," Ivy replied in concern. "How is that our best case scenario?"

"Remember, Ivy, I learned a particularly deadly move during training. He just ate his only Oran Berry that could save him from this," Talon answered.

"This is risky, Talon, what if you faint before you can use it?" Tippi asked.

Talon narrowed his eyes as Crimson began to run towards them. "I guess we'll find out. Tippi, make sure this is the real Crimson, I'm going in."

Crimson saw Talon managed to start flying again despite looking like he might keel over soon, getting ready, most likely for his last attack, which Crimson happily welcomed. "They say that Pokemon are able to draw on immense strengths in their last moments. I'll take that challenge, show me what you got!"

"This is indeed the real Crimson," Tippi confirmed. "Please, be careful."

Talon nodded to Tippi before he began to dive towards Crimson. Crimson grinned as he jumped behind the Starly. Talon let out a surprised gasp as the Zoroark clawed at his back, causing Talon to hit the ground. Crimson smirked as he landed nearby. "Looks like I won~"

Talon looked to be unconscious. The Mawile announcer was about to come on stage to see for sure, when suddenly, Talon's eyes opened and he gave a grin at the Zoroark. "Surprise~"

Crimson's eyes widened when he saw Talon's body suddenly glowed yellow, and his wings and talons slapped and slashed Crimson across the stage suddenly. It was so sudden and so powerful that Crimson suddenly felt like he was about to keel over. Crimson glared at Talon as he tried getting up, only to fall on his knees. It took almost all his energy to just stay conscious.

"What… what did… you do?" Crimson groaned.

"I just used Endeavor on you," Talon explained as Ivy went over to Talon, giving him an Oran Berry. "Why do you think I willingly let you damage me so much?"

Crimson was shocked to see that they had an Oran Berry the whole time. "You...cheeky little…" Crimson grunted in pain once more before continuing. "Don't think...this...is...over…"

Ivy came running towards Crimson, who set up another illusion, so her Vine Whip missed him, but shortly after, Tippi flew over the real Crimson, and spread out Stun Spore over his body, making him go numb and unable to move as fast. Crimson's body was twitching a bit from the paralysis. Even with his illusion, now that he was slowed down, he couldn't outrun the next attack.

Talon, who was looking much healthier now, flew down at the paralyzed Crimson. Crimson was about to defend himself with Flamethrower, but his body's paralysis stopped him, and Talon smashed into him with a Quick Attack. Crimson fell over on the stage, his body unmoving.

The whole crowd watched in silence as they saw Crimson go down. Many were expecting it to be another illusion and that the Zoroark would pull another surprise attack. Talon was expecting the same thing too, in case Crimson did try to pull anything. But after a while, Patricia went to check on Crimson as the crowd continued watching in suspense. She took a moment before addressing the crowd, using the time to build up their anticipation.

Pointing at Team Silkwing, Patricia shouted into her mic. "Crimson is unable to battle! Team Silkwing are the winners!"

The crowd went wild with cheers, many of them were surprised that Team Silkwing ended up taking the win without losing a single member. The medical team came to pick up Crimson, and the rest of his teams and take them to the medical room.

"That actually won…" Berry noted, unable to believe what she just saw.

While Team Silkwing had been a team they usually got along with, they never seemed like a powerful team to others, especially not to Team Crimson Raider's levels, yet here they are, having won the tournament for low ranks, beating Team Crimson Raiders without losing a single team member. Most of those who were watching couldn't believe it, they had expected Team Crimson Raiders to have easily won.

Dust was having mixed feelings after seeing Team Silkwing had won. While he was glad that his friends had won, at the same time it only reminded him of his mistakes and what could've happened had he fought with his team instead of fighting Crimson on his own. Of how he felt utter disappointment with himself over his decisions, and his loss against Crimson. Dust had no words to say as the crowd continued cheering on.

_That could've been us, if it wasn't for my mistake. _Dust angrily thought to himself.

Shab was looking at Dust for a bit.

"After many matches, after watching many teams rise and fall throughout the tournament, we finally have our champions! They have done the unexpected, showing us that it doesn't matter what shape or size you may be, but through hard work, determination and teamwork, anything is possible! Let's give another round of applause to Team Silkwing!" Patricia shouted to the crowd, getting them riled up once more.

The crowd gave another loud cheer. Ivy playfully bumped Talon, while Tippi was blushing heavily from all the attention. Talon just gave a smile, though inwardly he was pretty surprised that they won.

"Now, normally we would give the winning team, that is, Team Silkwing, a chance to battle against a Gold Rank team to show how well they could keep up with a Gold Rank team," Patricia continued when the cheering finally died down. "However, there are some special circumstances for this month's tournament. All participating members of Unity Guild are to stay for a special announcement. Everyone else, however, should leave now. This is only for the Unity Guild."

Everyone was confused by the sudden announcement, but they assumed that it's mostly because of how Unity Guild were the ones to have hosted the tournament, so they started leaving, some more quickly than others. There were some who still remained, curious as to what this special announcement could be, but the staff would then convince them that they must go. After a while, the crowd had finally emptied, except for members of Unity Guild.

"Wonder what it could be," Berry remarked.

"Has this ever happened before during a rank up tournament?" Shab questioned.

Dust shrugged, he himself wondering what the Mawile's announcement would be. "I don't recall ever seeing anything like this before, I guess we'll just have to wait and see."

Seeing how the only ones left were members of Unity Guild, Patricia started to address them. "Alright, I was asked to pass this message on to you. As of right now, all members are required to stay here at the tournament for the time being."

* * *

**Flawless Victory****: DarkFoxKit:** As Shab stated in the story, he only won because not only did he get lucky, and used items to help him out, Levi wasn't used to her newly evolved form, and the rage that came with it. So even though it seems unbelievable, it was perfectly doable. Especially in Mystery Dungeon, where if you used the proper items and strategy against a much stronger boss, you can still win. As for Levi having a crush on Shab, yeah, she kinda does.

**FoxyKhai0209****: DarkFoxKit:** Levi wasn't used to her evolved form or the new rage that came with it, so she lost control of herself. Not only that, but Shab was smart when he used a Blinker Seed to blind her, and enrage her even more. So while it may seem unbelievable, it was perfectly doable.

**Arctic Breeze****: Traveling Master: **Blizza does have her reasons, it doesn't excuse her for the way she's been acting towards Berry. And please, don't freeze her entirely, she is still needed for the story ^^'. But don't worry, we got plans for her, as well as Berry in the future that we hope you will like.

**Moondust****: Traveling Master: **Oh yes, we do have some plans concerning Dust's blue eye. Though as for the reincarnated theory, while interesting, sorry but that's something we didn't really think much about. But don't worry, in time the mystery behind Dust's blue eye will be answered. Eventually. Just gonna have to wait and see.

**Starry Fire****: DarkFoxKit:** That's the whole point, they're basically the 'Team Meanies' of this story. XP

**Berry Tail****: Traveling Master: **Heh, Eclipse sure wasn't expecting that. And just like how Dust is still getting used to being Cliff's father, I'm sure it's gonna take some time for Eclipse to get used to it too.

**Guest #1****: DarkFoxKit:** Ah, well Zekrom makes more sense.

**Guest #2****: DarkFoxKit: **Uh… you're asking us for a nickname? Maybe you could be… 'Questionnaire', since you're the reviewer who asks us the most questions for each chapter.

**Traveling Master: **I say just go with whatever makes you feel most comfortable. I mean, way before I even had an account, I just used the guest name RandOm guy...And it worked.

**DarkFoxKit:** Moves like Earthquake and such are indeed banned from the tournament, at least for that particular tournament for reasons. All hit moves that hit above the arena, like Surf or Lava Plume are fine though, since they don't destroy the arena itself.

**Traveling Master: **That is an interesting analysis. We can neither confirm or deny it, but you are right about the two mysterious figures. Something about the arena seems to be very important to them, though what it is, we can't say.

**DarkFoxKit:** Well, Magikarp doesn't usually always evolve faster, it depends on how fast you can get a Prism Scale and trade the Feebas, or raise its beauty level quickly with the right berries and poffins, but you're right in saying it is generally a lot more tedious to evolve a Feebas than a Magikarp. As for a future rivalry between Berry and Levi, well… sort of? Levi likes Shab, but Shab likes Berry, though Berry is naive in Shab liking her. Shab is indeed keeping his evolution a secret from Berry since he really wants to surprise her.

**Traveling Master: **I think Levi's main concern would be electric types. At least being part Water, Ice doesn't do too much damage, but if she gets zapped by some lightning, oof. She is gonna be hurting.

**DarkFoxKit:** I think he means that whether Levi was part Flying or Dragon, Ice would've done neutral damage to her.

**Traveling Master: **Oh, right. Like Kingdra. Okay, my bad.

**DarkFoxKit:** We figured that sometimes Pokemon just learn these moves upon evolving, so that way they're not too weak when going up against an opponent, and to make it more interesting than if Levi just used Tackle over and over as a Gyarados. As for the Whishiwashi's school, Levi hasn't really spoken her opinion on them yet, though I'd imagine she finds them annoying since they always need to be grouped up together to be worth anything.

Levi wasn't used to her new evolved form, and she wasn't prepared for the rage that came with it, which was why she lost. Shab fought smartly, he was much smaller than her and was able to avoid her attacks. He also used a Binker Seed to blind her temporarily, making her lose her temper even more. Sometimes it's dangerous to just evolve into something drastically different than what you're used to to battle against an opponent; you need time to get used to your new form and whatever else that may come with it. Levi kinda held back her evolution, because she wanted to wait a good opportunity to.

**Traveling Master: **Looks like you got most of it right for each combatant. Levi saw the potential between her and Shab. Ever since Dust had lost, he's been wanting to have a rematch with Crimson for a long time, wanting to prove to Crimson and himself that he's gotten better. And Blizza definitely wanted a rematch after losing from the first time. Crimson normally keeps a calm demeanor, but that also makes him more dangerous. Never fear the man who's quick to anger, but the one who always acts calmly. But yes, just because they are rivals, doesn't mean they have to act like enemies, seeing how they are part of the same guild.

As for Crimson's earlier statement, that was more from his pride. If Team Night Tide had fought the Crimson Raiders as a team, things might have gone differently. One of the major things was that Crimson was underestimating their team, so that might've played a key role had they fought as teams instead of 1 vs 1. And Crimson does care for his team, though he shows it differently. Blizza has a lot of respect for Crimson, and he's been helping her with her training, knowing a lot about her past. And speaking of pasts, while we do have plans for Crimson's past, we can't say much. There's a lot that will happen in the future concerning Crimson and his team. Just gonna have to wait and see.

**DarkFoxKit: **Blizza didn't intentionally attack the Everstone, but she did want Berry to evolve or use her outburst. You will likely see Blizza's brother at some point.

The voice in Berry's head is the dragon part of her, yeah, though I wouldn't say it's controlling the outburst. Whenever Berry goes into her outburst, her wild instincts begin to take over. This inner Berry doesn't care about fighting with Blizza, it just wants to survive and become stronger.

Yes, Berry is currently everstoneless and is holding back her evolution. Berry is afraid of evolving, she's afraid of turning into a Goodra, she's afraid of becoming a monster.

Grant and Al are both at their final evolved form levels, but they have their own reasons for not evolving yet. Grant has his own purpose for staying as a Groyvle, while Al's subconscious mind is holding back his own evolution, or maybe it's something else. We rather not say yet.

We won't say much about Otti right now, or her possible origins.

**Traveling Master: **Regardless of whether Otti is a Ditto or not, being a Ditto does at least allow her to have access to all those other moves. She would just have to transform into a Pokemon that is able to use one of those moves. But right now Otti is more of a researcher, but if it came to it, she might be able to use some of those combination moves, though I think that would be pretty though.

**Greatest Guy****: DarkFoxKit:** Yeah, Shab was pretty much the MVP. XD Dust is… yeah, pretty much that. Poor Berry. Don't worry, let's see how long the Crimswin can last.

**Lonleyboi69****: Traveling Master: **SHHHH! You have any idea how long I was stuck as a plushie?! Please don't give Mew any ideas or reason to try something else! But besides that, glad you thought the chapter was spicy. That rematch between Team Night Tide and Crimson Raiders has been something we've been looking forward to as well. We got plans for Blizza and the others, but that will come later. Glad you liked the chapter, and hoped you liked this one as well.

**Water Candy****: DarkFoxKit:** Seems Shab's win against Levi was a shock to everyone. I will say we don't plan to evolve Shab any time soon right now. Levi wasn't used to her evolved form, or the rage that came with it. She was much bigger than she was used to, and Shab fought smartly by dodging her attacks and giving her a Blinker Seed to blind her temporarily.

**Sugar Blossom****: Traveling Master: **Considering who her son is, I'm sure Eclipse was very surprised to hear that Dust was a father, thus making her a grandma. It's very rare to catch her off guard, but Cliff's cuteness can do the impossible.

**Honey Jewel****: DarkFoxKit:** Try not to get too high hopes for who could Dust's father be. We're keeping it within the realm of possibility after all, meaning Legendary Pokemon are out.

**Guest #3****: Traveling Master: **...Funny how you mentioned Lee vs Garra. Cause that's actually where the idea came from. XD Had Dust not taken Crimson's offer, things would have been very different. As I mentioned earlier, Crimson was already underestimating their team, so had they fought as teams, there might've been a chance Team Night Tide could've won. But those are now what if's.

Also...why would you say that?! Now I have to make sure my room is lock before that Absol-

***Explosion goes off***

...Nevermind...looks like I have some cleaning to do...Thanks...

**Jewel moonstone: DarkFoxKit:** Don't go watching late night horror movies then.


	33. Chapter 33: The Missing Teams

**DarkFoxKit:** Whew, we finally found some time to write. Well, sort of, things are still going slow for us.

**Traveling Master: **October sure has not been the month for us. Hopefully November will be better.

**DarkFoxKit:** It feels like it's been too long since we did an AN. I feel kinda awkward being back here now. Perhaps we should just get the readers to the chapter.

**Traveling Master: **Yeah, that sounds like a good idea. Just wanna say thanks to everyone for their patience, and that we'll be writing when we can, however fast or slow it may be.

**DarkFoxKit:** For anyone who is interested to know, my treatment will be over soon. But I have a lot to deal with until then, which interferes with our writing time as well. I have surgery on Thursday, and a lot of preparations that need to go into it, which really sucks. Well, it's categorized as surgery, but it's really internal radiation. Hopefully that'll be the last of my treatment.

**Traveling Master: **Well, it's like you said, you're almost done. Just gotta push past these next few weeks and you'll finally be done. So everyone, if you can, please keep DF in your thoughts and prayers, and just hope that time flies by.

**DarkFoxKit:** That would be appreciated. Now let's get on with the story.

* * *

**Chapter 33: The Missing Teams**

"So why do we all have to stay here?" Talon asked after everyone else left.

Team Rocket, Team Toxic Stars, Team Wild Thunder, Team Destruct, Team Silkwing, and Team Night Tide were the only ones left in the area, not counting Patricia. Team Crimson Raiders were the only team from the Unity Guild to not be present. They were currently in the medical room.

"Can this be over soon? I'm hungry, and there's no more popcorn," Al grumbled.

"Seriously, you just ate," Grant grunted.

"Yeah, but that was snack food, everyone knows that doesn't really count as a meal," Al countered.

"If you can all be quiet for a moment, I can get back to explaining why you all have to stay here," Patricia spoke up, annoyed by being interrupted earlier.

The others were surprised by the sudden change in attitude, being more used to seeing Patricia in a cheerful mood. Team Rocket were the first to quiet down, having first seen this side of Patricia for a brief moment. The others soon quickly followed, hoping to find out why they were still kept here, instead of returning back to the guild.

After seeing that she had everyone's attention, Patrica continued. "So the reason why each of you have to stay at the tournament for the time being is because something had happened to your Guildmaster. She has been taken away under the suspicion of kidnapping other Pokemon during the tournament."

The moment those words left Patricia's mouth, all teams had a shocked expression, soon to be followed by each of them all shouting out their own questions. The only ones who had remained silent were Team Night Tide, having already known what happen, they had planned to tell their fellow guildmates, but Patricia had beaten them to it.

"Guildmaster Chihiro would never do something like that!" Sparky the Yamper barked in objection.

"Why was she even suspected in the first place!?" Cobra the Seviper hissed angrily.

"If there's anything we know about that pun loving Guildmaster of our's, it's that she is no Pokemon kidnapper," Jessie the Meowth agreed.

"Wooooobbuffet!" The Wobbuffet stated.

"I couldn't agree with you more." James the Pikachu frowned.

"How could you even think Chihiro would do such a thing!?" Roxy the Rockruff growled.

"Chihiro isn't the kind of Pokemon to stoop so low as to kidnapping," Grant the Grovyleadded.

"If anything, I think she'd give up making puns then resort to kidnapping," Al the Charmeleon agreed.

"None of this makes sense, perhaps we should wait and hear Patricia out to why they suspect our guildmaster as being the Pokemon kidnapper," Caper the Purrloin suggested.

"Even if it is completely illogical," Swiper the Nickit agreed.

Dust, Berry, and Shab all frowned, but remained quiet. Spooks, who had been with Team Night Tide this whole time, was invisibly watching from beside Dust. He had been quiet as well. Berry had told him to remain invisible and as quiet as possible during the match, and to keep an eye for anything suspicious. He was to be their spy eyes, and also because they didn't want to leave him alone after his grandmother and siblings had been taken away.

"QUIET!" Patricia shouted. She tried being patient, but having been cut off twice in a row was starting to get on her nerves. She quickly regained her composure once she saw everyone was now quiet. She takes a deep breath before continuing. "Now before I continue, please know that I am only relaying to you what I've been told. If you have any questions, please wait until after I finish explaining. Are we good?"

Everyone nodded, surprised by Patricia's sudden outbursts.

"Good. Now as I said, Chihiro is currently being questioned at this moment and until she has been proven innocent or guilty, she will be remaining with the authorities until then. Which is why each of you are required to stay at the tournament. Due to what had happened to your guildmaster, the authorities wish to keep a close eye on each of you and will be conducting an investigation tomorrow. That's when you can share what you know with the authorities. We've already prepared a room to accommodate you during your stay here. Now you can ask your questions."

At first everyone was silent, still taking in everything that Patricia had just explained.

"Are we under suspicions ourselves?" Dust spoke up over the silence.

"Personally, I don't think so, since each of you had participated in this tournament, but the authorities need to take every precaution. So for the time being, yes, while unlikely, each of you are under suspicions," Patricia explained. "Now are there any other questions?"

Again, all were silent, especially after being told that even they were under suspicion. Then a single arm raised up and everyone turned to see Al was the one raising it.

"So...is there gonna be any food?" Al asked, only for Brody and Grant to simultaneously punch in on top of his head.

"Idiot!" They both shouted at the same time.

"Ouch! It's a legitimate question! If we are going to be stuck here, I'd like to know if we are gonna have food!" Al countered while rubbing the bruise that had formed on top of his head.

Patricia blinked a couple times, wondering how a group like Team Destruct could be so strong, and yet act so childish. "You won't have to worry about food, plenty will be provided during your stay here. Now if that's all, we'll have someone take you to the rooms we have prepared for you."

As if on cue, some rough looking Pokemon wearing sunglasses began to enter. They were clearly the security guards of the tournament, though the most well known ones were the Stufful and Bewear. The Stufful looked at Bewear.

"So, which team do you want to take care of?" Stufful asked.

The Bewear looked at each team for a bit, before landing its eyes on Team Rocket. Jessie noticed the Bewear looking at them, and came up with an idea. She dug out a big looking apple from her bag.

"Hey, if you could take us to one of the nicer rooms, this Perfect Apple is yours," Jessie bribed.

The Bewear walked up to Team Rocket, each step resounding in a hard thump, until they stood in front of them, towering over Jessie, James and Wobbuffet. James and Wobbuffet were hiding behind Jessie, thinking that they may have angered the Bewear, and Jessie was starting to have second thoughts about her bribe. When suddenly the Bewear grabbed the apple and in a swift motion ate the entire fruit in one go.

Jessie, James, and Wobbuffet watched as the Bewear chewed the apple in their mouth. Once the Bewear swallowed the apple, Team Rocket waited for any reaction, with James and Wobbuffet still hiding behind Jessie. Suddenly the Bewear gave a firm nod, causing Team Rocket to sigh in relief, but before they knew it, the Bewear suddenly picked them all up.

"Uh...what are you doing?" James asked.

The Stufful laughed. "Aww, looks like my partner had taken a real liking to you three. She's decided to take you back to her own room instead."

"What?!" James and Jessie both shouted.

"Woooobbuffet!" Wobbuffet added.

"Don't worry, she'll take good care of you, she makes the best berry juice known to Pokemon kind," Stufful smiled.

Bewear nodded before she suddenly started rushing out of the room. Team Rocket almost had the wind knocked out of them from the sudden speed. But just before they were completely gone, they managed to shout one last thing.

"Looks like Team Rocket is blasting off!" Jessie and James shouted at the same time.

"Woooooobbuuuuffeeeet!" Wobbuffet's managed to shout just as Bewear had taken them away.

Everyone just stared at what happened in the past minute, but after deciding it was just how Bewear worked, everyone went back to work. All the teams from the Unity Guild were being led out of the arena to their new rooms. Team Night Tide were being led by a Mienfoo.

"I will be sure to let Team Crimson Raiders know about this soon," Patricia stated as everyone was leaving.

* * *

"You three will stay here until further notice. You are not to leave unless given permission to. We will have someone bring you food for the time being," The Mienfoo security guard instructed after he let Dust walk into their new room. Berry and Shab were still on his back. "Are there any questions?"

Nobody said anything. So the Mienfoo gave a nod. "Good. Enjoy your stay."

With that said, the Mienfoo closed the door, leaving Team Night Tide alone.

"This… room is a bit smaller than the one we were in before," Shab noted.

"Well to be fair, the other rooms were mainly to accommodate the other fighters, they weren't really meant to be used as a sleeping quarter. And I assume the medical room is strictly for those who are recovering. Perhaps they have these small rooms for those who had travelled far from their homes to watch the tournament. Though you are right, it seems a bit smaller than what we are used to," Dust explained. He then noticed that Berry was still quiet, looking somewhat troubled. "Is everything alright Berry?"

"I just… find this situation to be… troubling," The Goomy answered as she hopped off of Dust's back. "Chihiro gets arrested under the suspicions that she was kidnapping Pokemon, and now all of the participating teams from the Unity Guild are locked up in rooms that are close by to each other. We're not allowed to leave without permission. Don't you think this might make us all easier targets for the real kidnapper?"

Dust thought about Berry's words before replying. "With what has happened so far, I can see that. Perhaps we can take turns standing guard, watching for any signs of trouble. Though I'm sure if the kidnapper knew of our current situation, they may have already made preparations for us."

"I will say, in the wild, if you know a predator is coming for you, you must plan ahead in advance to keep you and your own school safe," Shab stated.

"Interesting analogy," Dust commented. "Though perhaps we can do more than just plan ahead in advance."

"What do you mean?" Shab asked.

Dust didn't answer at first as he went to the door and peeked outside. He saw no sign of any other Pokemon, only the doors that lead to where the others were most likely staying. He closed the door before addressing Berry and Shab. "Well it doesn't look like anyone is really standing guard, so-"

"Wait," Berry interrupted. "Before we plan anything out… Spooks, are you still here?"

"Yeah," The little Dreepy answered, revealing himself.

"Can you check around the area here? Try to look for any hidden cameras or possibly hidden Pokemon that could be lurking around," Berry instructed. "Do you think you'll be able to do that?"

Spooks nodded. "This is for my siblings and Grandma."

Spooks turned himself invisible again and flew through the wall, flying around the area. Sure enough, there were cameras watching the doors for any Pokemon leaving without permission. He also saw some hidden Zubat hanging on the ceiling, likely using their ears to listen for any footsteps or voices. Spooks frowned, seeing how despite there not being any security guards guarding the door, there was still security around the area. Spooks flew back into the room Team Night Tide were in.

"Berry was right, there are cameras and hidden Pokemon watching," Spooks stated after reappearing before them again.

"Cameras?" Dust asked, which Spooks nodded. "Hmm, while it does make things more difficult, this only raises more questions. Like how the kidnapper hadn't been seen yet."

"Probably because this place is more secure than the rooms the fighters were staying in before," Berry replied. "We _were _sent in here to be kept an eye on after all."

"So how are we going to get out and continue our investigation?" Shab questioned.

"We might need to disguise ourselves as either a security guard or room service," Berry answered.

"How are you going to do that?" Spooks asked.

"We could wait until room service comes to deliver our meal," Berry suggested. "We can try to sneak their uniform or accessory or whatever it is they wear off of them, and put it on one of us so we can sneak out while pretending to be carting out food. Since Dust is the biggest, he could be the food service Pokemon, while Shab and I could try hiding under the cart."

"But wouldn't the Pokemon looking at the camera feed get suspicious that the room service Pokemon is suddenly an Absol?" Spooks asked.

"Maybe Dust can call for an Absol specifically as the food delivery person. He could say he wanted to see another fellow Absol, because he's pretty scared about what's going on. Or maybe he just wants to flirt with another Absol," Berry snickered at that last part.

"Okay, we both know my social skills are very lacking, I don't even know any ounce of knowledge when it comes to flirting. Second, while not a bad plan, it depends on if they even have an Absol working here," Dust pointed out.

"Well, do you have a better plan?" Berry asked.

Dust raised a claw as he took a breath in, but then sheepishly smiled. "I...do not."

"Then it's our best shot," Berry said.

"Well it's not like we are going to have a chance to ask specifically for an Absol to deliver our food," Dust brought up, when suddenly there was a knock on the door.

The door opened, revealing the same Stufful that they had met before. "Hey, so we are about to get all your food ready, but before we do that, we are just going around to get your preference, if you only want meat or berries, or if you have any known allergies to any specific food."

Berry smiled before she looked at Dust. She didn't say it, but the look she was giving him was all Dust needed to know that meant this was the perfect opportunity to request the Absol food deliverer. Spooks had turned invisible again when the door opened.

Dust sighed before addressing the Stufful. "Actually...there is something I'd like to ask. I was wondering, by chance do you have an Absol working here? And if so, can you have them bring us our food?"

Stufful gave Dust a weird look. "Uh...we actually do have an Absol who works here, but why do you want to meet one?"

"Well...things have been pretty stressful, what with our Guildmaster gone and such. Absol can actually provide great...emotional support with their own kind. So I was hoping to speak with one, just to help me through the night," Dust explained, giving an innocent smile.

Stufful was a bit skeptical of Dust, but he shrugged. "Well I don't know that much about Absol, but that seems to make sense. I'll be sure to have Trixx bring your food."

"Trixx?" Dust gulped. "By chance that wouldn't be a male's name?"

"Female," Stufful answered before looking Dust up and down. The Stufful gave a smirk at Dust. "And please refrain from doing anything too...unprofessional when she comes."

"...Thanks…" Dust kept on smiling, though internally he was screaming. "I look forward to meeting her."

"Oh, I'm sure you will. Trixx likes getting friendly with those in her egg group and the opposite gender~" The Stufful replied before leaving the room.

Dust looked like he wanted to disappear now.

"Well, looks like this will be easier than we thought," Shab chuckled.

"Maybe while Dust is flirting, we should eat some of the food to avoid suspicion too. Besides, I am getting kinda hungry," Berry remarked.

"What should I do?" Spooks asked.

"You keep an eye on the other teams, see if anyone might try to kidnap them," Berry answered.

Shab noticed Dust was looking down and rather depressed. "Hey, Dust, you gonna be okay?"

Dust didn't hear him as he was too busy mumbling to himself. "I don't know the first thing about flirting. The only other time I've ever met with a female Absol besides my mother was that wild one, and she almost mated with me. But that's because she was wild, I'm about to meet with a civilized Absol. How do I even flirt? What do other Absol like? Are they like Mother? Oh Arceus, what if they are like Mother?! I can't handle more than one Eclipse! Oh! What if they actually start flirting back? Will I have to commit? Should I stay in contact afterwards? What if I run into her again in the future? Mother is already gonna be upset if she finds out about Cliff, I can't even imagine her reaction if she saw me with another Absol. If we end up together, will I have to give up researching to provide for her? But I don't want to give that up, but what if we end up with a family?"

Shab slowly backed away from Dust as he continued mumbling. "Uh Berry...I think Dust is broken."

"Hmm… maybe you could help teach him a thing or two about flirting?" Berry asked.

"M-me?" Shab blushed.

"Yeah, you seem to be good at giving compliments since you do it all the time with me. Maybe you can help Dust out to 'turn on the charm'," Berry suggested.

Shab looked at Dust with some doubt. While it was true that he had been giving Berry compliments since they first met, that was because he truly loved Berry and had been receiving help from both Brody and Cupcake. He wasn't so sure if Dust was capable of flirting, but if Berry thinks he can help Dust, then he will do what he can to get the Absol to 'turn on the charm.'

"I'll do what I can." Shab smiled before going back to Dust, who had ceased his mumbling. "Hey, Dust?"

Dust didn't hear Shab as he continued mumbling. "And that's not including our children. How are they going to turn out? Are they going to be like me? Or what if they are all like Mother?! I don't think I can handle that. It was already bad enough that I'm going to end up with someone like Mother, but now our children are going to be like her too?!"

"DUST!" The Feebas shouted, squirting some Water Pulse in Dust's face to get the Absol to stop.

Dust looked up, shocked by the sudden Water Pulse. "Who, what, when, where, and why?!"

"Calm down before you pass out on us," Shab sighed, swimming in the air in front of Dust. "Listen, I've had some flirting advice from Brody and Cupcake… so… maybe I can use some of their teachings to help you a little bit."

"But I'm not ready for this. I'm not ready to be in a relationship," Dust replied worriedly.

"Relax, right now we just need you to focus on distracting the Absol, doesn't mean you have to really flirt with her," Shab explained.

Dust nodded, liking the sound of that. "...Okay...that...works."

"Plus, who knows, maybe you two might actually like each other after this," Shab joked, but Dust didn't think so, and started freaking out again. "Oh boy, this is gonna be harder than I thought."

"Dust, relax. You're not doing this to get into a relationship, okay? You're doing this so we can leave this room and figure out what's really going on and prove our guildmaster's innocence," Berry spoke up, seeing Dust was freaking out again.

Dust started taking deep breaths, remembering why they needed him to flirt in the first place. "You're right, I just gotta remember that. This is all for Chihiro. Nothing more!"

"Alright, then let's start with the lessons," Shab remarked.

* * *

Spooks was looking around the rooms, making sure all of the teams were alright. Bewear seemed to be feeding Team Rocket with her big paws. Team Rocket themselves were mixed about this. Bewear was being a bit rough, but she was feeding them very delicious honey mixed with berries and meat, and they appeared to be enjoying it a lot. The other teams appeared to be doing quite well, some of them just got their food delivered. Though Spooks noticed that Team Silkwing didn't touch their food. Ivy looked rather suspicious of it.

Spooks then flew into Team Destruct's room, the last team he was checking up on since he was a little worried about getting caught in one of their 'spars's crossfires.

"I say we should go out there and find that kidnapper ourselves," Grant spoke up. "If we just stay here, we are nothing more than a group of Wooloo waiting to be slaughtered by a hungry Mightyena."

"I wonder how Wooloo might taste, though I can imagine their wool not being very tasty," Al remarked.

Brody ignored Al's comment and focused on Grant's. "Look, I understand why, part of me wants to go searching too, but we have to be more rational about this. If we go out there, destroying everything we see, we'd cause more trouble."

"Though it would be pretty fun," Al pointed out. "In fact, we might actually end up running into the kidnapper if we were to cause some destruction."

"I'm with him, better than sitting here and doing nothing," Grant grunted.

"And I'm telling you, we are not just gonna sit here and wait. But we shouldn't cause more trouble," Brody tried explaining. "Chihiro is already in trouble for something she didn't do, the last thing she needs is us giving the authorities more reason to suspect her."

There was a knock on their door, before it opened. An Electabuzz was pushing in a huge cart full of food. There was a Magmar behind him, karting in more carts of food. They had been informed of Al's rather bottomless pit of a stomach. At seeing the food, Al was about to leap at the cart filled with food, but Grant grabbed his tail, careful to avoid the flame, just as he leaped, pulling him back.

"How about you wait until after me and Brody grab our food before you decide to scarf it all down?" Grant asked.

Al grumbled. "Fine, but please hurry, I don't know how long my stomach can last!"

"Don't worry, you'll get your food," Brody said before thanking the Electabuzz and Magmar.

The Electabuzz and Magmar left rather quickly, not wanting to get in the very hungry looking Charmeleon's way of his food. Al was drooling as he waited ever so 'patiently' for his teammates to grab their food. Once Brody and Grant had gotten their food, Al looked at them, waiting for approval. Brody nodded, which was all that Al needed before rushing towards the cart and devouring the food at an alarming rate.

"Seriously, where does all that food go?" Brody asked, taking an occasional bite from his food. "You'd think after eating so much he'd look a lot more...chunkier."

"You mean like a Snorlax?" The Grovyle chuckled, munching on his own food. "I have no idea where he puts it all. Sometimes I'm rather jealous that he can eat so much and still be as fit as a Machamp."

"...Do you think it may have to do with his past?" Brody brought up, thinking about their amnesiac friend.

Grant shrugged. "Maybe, but we've been a team for a while now and he still hasn't remembered anything. Though at this point I'm not even sure he even thinks about his past. He'd rather think about his next meal than wonder who he was."

"Perhaps he doesn't want to think about his past for a reason…" The Lucario frowned in wonder. "You think maybe we should get an expert Psychic type to try to look into his mind to find anything out?"

"We can try, but it's like you said, maybe there's a reason why he doesn't want to think about his past. We can suggest it and see what he wants to do, though I think he'd be too busy eating to even pay attention. Isn't that right, Al?" Grant chuckled as he asked the Charmeleon his question.

Al didn't reply, which Grant wasn't too surprised by. "See, even now, I don't think there's anything that can draw that Charmeleon's focus away from eating."

"Wait...somethings not right," Brody looked at Al curiously. "Al?"

Again, no reply, this time Grant was now a bit suspicious. They both got up to check on their friend and were surprised to see the Charmeleon sleeping on top of some unfinished giant souffle, using it as a pillow almost.

"Didn't think he'd be that exhausted," Grant remarked.

"Didn't think Al would fall asleep before finishing his food," Brody pointed at the pile of food that was still left on the cart.

"That's… odd… no matter how tired Al would get, even after a long, hard mission, he would never fall asleep as long as he had food left," Grant noted in suspicion, before looking down at their own food and began to sniff it. "... Brody, check the food with your aura, quickly!"

Brody nodded as he closed his eyes and used his aura to look at the food. At first he didn't see anything strange about it, but upon closer look, he noticed there was something off about the food, it almost looked like some kind of glittery powder was spread across their food. He was about to look further when he noticed that he was having trouble focusing on the aura. Things were starting to blur, but it was at that moment he realized what had happened.

"Grant...the food has been laced...with some kind of...powder," Brody managed to say as he felt his body growing heavy.

Grant let out a curse under his breath. Powder usually didn't affect Grass types… on the outside, but if they were to consume the powder, that was a different story. "Someone… tampered… with the food…"

Spooks let out a small gasp when he saw Grant and Brody falling to the floor, unable to stay standing.

"We… we have… to warn… the… the others…" Grant groaned, trying to crawl to the door. He saw that Brody wasn't moving, most likely having succumbed to the powder. Grant knew he didn't have much time until he too succumbed to the powder. "...Can't...give...up...I...I have…"

Grant reached for the door handle, only a few inches away. He tried as hard as he could, mustering any strength left in him to grab the door handle, but at the last moment his arm fell as his vision started to go black.

Spooks quickly flew out of the room and hurried to Team Night Tide's room, hoping he wasn't too late. Berry did say she and Shab were going to eat some of the food after all, and he had to stop them before it was too late.

* * *

Dust felt like a nervous wreck. He knew he was doing this for Chihiro, and for the other missing Pokemon, but he really had no idea how to flirt. Shab had been trying his best to teach him, but he felt like the lesson went into one ear, but out the other. They had no more time for lessons, however, because there was a slight scratch on the door.

"Room service!" A feminine voice called out from the door.

"Come on, Dust, you've got this," Berry whispered to her Absol partner.

"Right...I got this...I got this….I don't got this! Nope!" Dust took a deep breath, shaking his head as he tried to reassure himself. "No...I can do this...Oh Arceus why? Let's just get this over with."

Dust nearly tripped on his way to the door, in fact, he stumbled before his head ended up bonking against the door, which caused it to open. There was a tall looking feminine Absol there, blinking at him, before she pushed the cart into the room.

"Wow, didn't think you'd be that eager to get your food," The female Absol chuckled.

Dust rubbed his temple before addressing the Absol. "Sorry, I had just tripped."

A moment of silence went by until Dust felt something nudge the back of his leg. He looked back and saw Shab was the one to nudge him to say something.

"Uh...come right in," Dust awkwardly smiled as he stood aside for the Absol.

The Absol grinned a bit as she pushed the cart inside. "Alright, well, perhaps I should leave now so you can-"

"Wait!" Dust suddenly spoke up.

"Oh? Is there something you want from little ol' me, handsome?~" The Absol playfully smiled.

Dust quickly turned around to hide his face. _Oh this is so wrong! This is so awkward! Come on, pull yourself together, remember why you are doing this!_

Dust turned back to see the Absol waiting patiently for his reply. He could feel his body temperature rising up in his cheeks as he prepared to flirt. "Soooo...what's an Absol like yourself working around here?"

"Oh, you know, a Pokemon's gotta eat to live. I'm not really much of a Crusader myself, but I can work with food pretty well," The Absol answered. "My name is Trixx, what's yours?~ Oh wait, don't tell me, you're Dust, the leader of Team Night Tide, aren't you?"

"Uh, yes," Dust found it strange at first that she already knew his name, but then remembered how most of the workers probably know who the other fighters are at this point. He then noticed Shab and Berry in the background, making gestures for him to keep going. Sighing, Dust decided it was now or never. "Sorry for my awkwardness. I've never really met that many Absol before, much less a female one. I just can't help but notice how...your fur is a lot shinier compared to others."

"It is?" Trixx asked, looking at her fur for a moment. "Well… I suppose I do shampoo it a lot. Though you have quite the lovely and unique eyes. I've never seen an Absol that has one blue eye and one red eye."

Berry and Shab were getting some food while the two Absol talked. At the same time, Spooks came flying in, still invisible of course. He noticed Berry and Shab were about to eat some of the food. He quickly flew over to them.

"Don't eat the food!" Spooks hissed, making Berry and Shab almost jump.

"Spooks?" Berry blinked, whispering.

"What's going on-" Trixx started as she was about to turn, but then Dust suddenly grabbed her face and held it still.

"Uh...Sorry, my eyes may be unique, but I couldn't help but stare at your beautiful eyes. I almost got lost in them when I first saw them," Dust quickly said, hoping to distract Trixx.

"... My, you really know how to woo a girl~" Trixx giggled.

Dust started blushing really hard as he quickly let go. He was about to apologize, but he knew he had to keep going. "W-well it's not everyday you meet another Absol who is so...captivating."

"The food was tampered with. It put Team Destruct to sleep," Spooks warning quietly to Berry and Shab.

Berry and Shab frowned, before they began to sneak the food to a nearby potted plant, and dumped most of the berries and whatnot into the pot.

"Oh surely you don't mean that," Trixx giggled.

Dust hastily nodded as he just said whatever came to mind. "No, it's true. I've only known two other female Absol in my whole life, and they are nothing compared to you."

"I do hope that's a compliment," Trixx remarked, frowning slightly.

_Think Dust, you're losing her. You have to keep distracting her. _Dust thought to himself, but then he got an idea. Though he would later regret using the idea, he didn't think about it at the time.

"Oh, I assure you it's a compliment, in fact," Dust then got close to Trixx and bowed his head, making his own horn touch Trixx's horn.

There was a small tap between the two Absol's horns, but Trixx let out a surprised gasp. Suddenly, her entire body turned purple and shrunk down. This shocked Dust, Berry, and Shab as the glowing body turned into a small fox-like creature. In the Absol's place was a Zorua.

Dust blinked a couple times, still trying to register what he just saw. "You're...you're a Zorua?!" Dust shouted in surprise.

"I… didn't expect that," Shab chuckled sheepishly.

"Awww! You just had to go and ruin my fun," Trixx pouted. "It was funny to watch how flustered you were getting!"

"Wait, so if you were really a Zorua...then that means you were…" Dust remarked.

"Leading you on?" Trixx guessed.

"Just playing a prank! Oh thank Arcues," Dust sighed in relief. "I don't know how much longer I could keep that up."

"Dust!" Berry spoke up. "Really?"

"What?" Dust frowned.

Berry sighed, slapping her face with her antenna.

"Oh? So you didn't actually want to woo me?" Trixx questioned. "You know, we get a lot of requests from Pokemon of what type of Pokemon should bring them their food and such. That's why I'm invaluable here, I can use my illusion to fulfill their request without the staff needing to find and hire that particular Pokemon. So I wouldn't say I was pranking you, just trying to help make you feel better."

"Oh, well if that was the case, then you just showing up as yourself would've been far better," Dust replied. "I think it's rather interesting how Zorua are able to use their illusions. While I've already met a Zoroark, I've never had the chance to meet a Zorua before, so I'm rather glad that you're actually a Zorua instead of an Absol."

"_You _were the one who requested for an Absol," Trixx reminded, looking rather annoyed. "It's part of my job to go with whatever the client requested. Now if you'll excuse me, I'll be leaving."

"Wait!" Berry quickly spoke up. "Trixx, don't go yet… we… uh… if you don't mind… maybe you'd like to help us out with something?"

The Zorua looked at the Goomy. "... I'm listening."

"I'm sure you've heard about Pokemon going missing, recently, right?" Berry asked.

Trixx actually looked worried when Berry mentioned the missing Pokemon. "We aren't really supposed to talk about that."

"How come?" Dust asked.

"Well for one, it's only rumors, and we are told we shouldn't get distracted since we are very busy during these tournaments. And those who end up focusing too much on those rumors usually end up leaving. Most likely getting fired for not focusing on work," Trixx explained.

"That… already sounds pretty ominous," Shab pointed out.

"Recently, our Guildmaster was arrested under the suspicion that she could be the one responsible for the missing Pokemon," Berry informed Trixx. "We think that they're keeping us here in one spot, so it would be easy to pick us off. At least that's what we think." _Not to mention the fact the food was putting Team Destruct to sleep also raised some red flags._

"We had been doing our own investigation before and were planning on doing so again, but after being told that we needed permission to leave and seeing how the security was, we thought we would try to sneak out using a disguise," Dust added. "It's why I asked specifically for an Absol, sorry for the inconvenience."

"I see, you were planning to knock me out after you've 'seduced' me, huh?" Trixx snickered, seeing Dust's face light up with red a bit.

"For the record, I did not plan this! I did not want to flirt! As you probably had figured out already, my skills when it comes to flirting are almost non existent," Dust quickly said.

"I thought they were pretty good," Trixx remarked. "Then again, I'm not actually an Absol, so I wouldn't know what their standards would be. Anyways… why are you telling me this now?"

"Since you're not actually an Absol, but a Zorua… I thought maybe you might be able to help sneak us out of here," Berry informed. "... I know you don't really have a reason to help us like this… especially since this could potentially get you fired…" _Or kidnapped…_ "But we were hoping you would at least help a team of Crusaders find out about the real kidnapper, and stop this injustice to our Guildmaster."

Trixx gave a thoughtful look. "I will admit, I do like Chihiro, she made a guild for any Pokemon to join, and was welcoming about it. And her puns are pretty funny too."

Spooks smiled at that. "Finally, someone else enjoys her puns."

Trixx looked at the Dreepy, who just dropped his invisibility. "How long had he been here?"

"This is Spooks, one of Chihiro's grandchildren," Shab introduced.

"He left when Chihiro got arrested. He's been helping us investigate around," Berry admitted. "Like… for instance… he warned us the food was tampered with. If we eat it, we would be put to sleep."

Trixx frowned before she looked at the food, sniffing it a bit. "How _dare_ someone try contaminating this food I slaved over! … Wait… so the food I delivered to the others… they've all been put to sleep?"

Spooks nodded. "I'm afraid so. I saw the others were unconscious shortly after eating the food."

"Okay, so it looks like what you said definitely have some merits, Goomy," Trixx said to Berry.

"The name's Berry…" Berry mumbled. _She knew Dust's name, but not mine?_

Trixx grinned a little. "I'll admit, this does have some kind of thrill to it that I'm enjoying. A sinister mystery of Pokemon going missing behind the scenes of a tournament. And that mystery is so close to my nose, I can smell it."

"So you'll help us?" Berry asked hopefully.

"Well, since my food was tampered with, and I owe the real kidnapper one for this, sure, I'll help you. It'll also be exciting to help a Crusader team that made it as far as they did in the rank up tournament~" The Zorua grinned.

"By chance would you have seen anyone out of the ordinary who might've tampered with the food?" Dust asked.

"I have a few others who cook the food too, but I haven't seen anyone suspicious," The Zorua answered. "But I wasn't exactly looking for a suspicious Pokemon. They say the culprit is usually the one you least expect anyways."

"Hmm, well time is of the essence and we don't know how long it will be when that kidnapper shows up. I hate to leave the others behind in their current state, but I think now would be our best shot in hopes of finding the missing Pokemon," Dust explained. "Right now the kidnapper expects all of us to be trapped here, unconscious, so we will have the element of surprise on our side."

"What do you plan to do first?" Trixx asked.

"We need to leave this room and start investigating," Berry answered. "If we're stuck here, it's only a matter of time before the kidnapper knocks us out and takes us."

"Hmm… well, if you're going to investigate, I would suggest starting with the storage room. Sometimes I would hear whispers of voices in there, even though I never see anyone in the storage room," Trixx suggested.

"That… sounds… really creepy. Are you sure there weren't any Ghost types or something?" Shab asked.

"Doubt it. If it were Ghost types, why speak in hushed whispered tones? And why speak in the storage room? Even if it was a prank, they wouldn't be patient enough to keep it going for as long as they are," Trixx pointed out.

"And we've already had our fair share of Ghost encounters in the past as well," Dust added. "But it looks like the storage room is our best bet."

"Now as for getting you three out of here, well everyone else saw an Absol enter this room, so no one else wouldn't be suspicious seeing an Absol leave as well," Trixx grinned. "And I can use my illusions to disguise you guys as well."

"Heh, so I guess in the end asking for an Absol worked in our favor," Dust remarked.

"Wasn't that the whole point in the first place?" Berry chuckled.

"What should I do?" Spooks asked.

"For now, continue watching over us while staying hidden. On the off chance something were to happen to us, at least we can count on you to warn others," Dust answered.

The Dreepy nodded nervously, before going invisible again.

* * *

Dust was currently wearing the food service uniform while pushing the food cart. Trixx, Berry, and Shab were on plates, acting as leftover food. Trixx used her illusion to make Berry appear as a giant berry fruit, Shab looked like a cooked fish, and Trixx herself looked like a bowl of soup. None of them could move, however, or they would ruin the illusion. Dust was the only one who was allowed to move. Trixx only put a minor illusion over his blue eye to make it appear red.

While normally Dust would've asked a multitude of questions, admiring the illusions that Trixx had created, he knew that now wasn't the time for that. Trixx had explained that after she was supposed to deliver their food, she would be allowed to go on break. So all Dust had to do was return the cart and hopefully no one tried talking with him. Following the directions Trixx had given him, Dust continued pushing the food cart as he headed towards the kitchen. So far they haven't ran into any trouble and Dust can only hope that it kept that way.

When they had reached the kitchen, Dust could see a few other Pokemon that were in the middle of cooking, while others were cleaning up. Most likely preparing to close for the day. Dust half expected everyone in the room to immediately look at him and know that he wasn't really Trixx, or that the _food _were actually Berry, Shab, and Trixx in disguise. But to his relief, no one really paid attention to him. Dust went towards where the other food carts were, lucky for them it seemed that they were close to the exit as well. All Dust needed to do was return the cart, then him and the others could sneak out.

But just as Dust was about to put the food cart with the others, he noticed a shadow towering over him. Dust almost jumped but managed to remain calm. He looked back and saw a Swampert wearing a Chef's top hat and uniform.

"And where do you think you are going?" The Swampert asked. Dust noticed he had a thick accent, but couldn't place where it came from.

Dust only gulped expecting the Swampert was on to them, until the Swampert pointed at his food cart.

"You know the rules, any food left over must be taken care of. Once you do that, then you can take your break, Trixx," The Swampert explained before leaning in closer. "And once you are done, you have to share your tales with that Absol, many are eager to hear it."

Dust now realized that the Swampert didn't know that he wasn't really Trixx, which gave him some relief. So Dust quickly nodded before taking the food cart with his friends and exiting the kitchen. After walking some distance away, Dust made sure that no one else was nearby, nor there were any potential security cameras or Zubats. Once the coast was clear, he let out a big sigh of relief.

"For a moment I thought we were caught," Dust sighed.

Trixx released her illusions on everyone, and stretched out. "Nah, that was the main Chef, Skipper. He's a nice guy, loves to cook, but is very clumsy with everything else."

"Heh, sounds like a certain Lucario we know of," Shab commented.

Berry chuckled at that, before turning serious. "Looks like we're finally outside of our rooms. We should be good now, we can act like just normal Pokemon going around the place as it's closing up."

"Yup!" Trixx smiled. "I know where the storage room is, so just follow me and we'll get there quickly."

Berry hopped off of the cart and landed on Dust's back. Shab hopped off of the cart, landing on Berry's head. Trixx started laughing when she saw this. "Now that's a cute little pile up you have going there."

"We've been told," Dust commented.

Trixx nodded before she started heading off. "Just make sure to stay close, and be ready to stop in case we run into any other Pokemon. I'll try to keep us hidden."

Dust nodded before he followed the Zorua down the corridor. The place looked creepier at night, when most of the lights were turned off. It was a good thing Dust and Trixx were Dark types, otherwise they would struggle trying to walk through the darkness. Berry likely wouldn't have too much trouble navigating either due to her antennae.

"Hey… I don't think we're here alone," Berry whispered suddenly.

This caused Trixx and Dust to stop in their tracks. Dust whispered back. "Are they close? Does it look like they are coming towards us?"

"Yes, to both," Berry answered, frowning.

Dust was starting to feel freaked out. There were Pokemon coming towards them, and they were close. Suddenly, Dust noticed several shadows coming up to them. Trixx quickly backed away. There were four of them from the looks of it.

"Well, well, look at what the Skitty dragged in," A familiar voice chuckled.

A Salandit walked up to them, coming in close enough for the others to be able to see him. "Hey, I saw you guys the other night, right?"

Dust recognized the Salandit, though he was still on guard. "That's right. So why are you here then?"

"I don't think I've introduced myself last time, how rude of me," The Salandit chuckled. "You can call me Kuro. I've been watching the tournament, and couldn't help but notice some foul play, and I don't mean the move itself. I may not have had her as a guildmaster myself, but something just didn't sit right with me when Chihiro was arrested under the accusation of kidnapping Pokemon. Chihiro had helped me out of a few tough jams before, so I feel like I owe her one. But I couldn't possibly help her by myself… luckily, I came across a team who were smart enough to not consume the food given to them here."

Kuro grinned as he looked back at the other three Pokemon.

"Team Night Tide?" A familiar Starly asked in surprise.

"Talon?" Dust asked back as he recognized the Starly.

Then Dust saw the other shadowy figures and recognized them as Team Silkwing.

"What are you guys doing here? Not that we aren't glad, but how did you know not to eat the food?" Dust asked.

"Heh, you can thank Ivy for that," Talon turned to Ivy. "She was the one to point out that something seemed off with the food."

"Perks of being a Grass type is that we tend to know when Sleep Powder is nearby, or in this case, covering our food," Ivy grinned.

"It also helped that I noticed some kind of powder on our food with my Compound Eyes," Tippi added.

"Looks like you guys were smart enough not to eat the food either," Ivy noted.

"We almost did," Berry chuckled sheepishly. "But we had our own little spy helping us out."

Spooks appeared before them, giving them a shy wave.

"My, what a clever use of a Ghost type. I take it this is one of Chihiro's children?" Kuro asked.

"One of her grandchildren actually," Shab corrected.

"Grandchildren? Wow, she didn't look old enough to be a grandparent, then again, it's hard to tell a Ghost type's age just by looking at them," Kuro chuckled.

"I… want to help prove my Grandma's innocence. It's not fair she got arrested. I know she didn't kidnap anyone," Spooks stated.

"As do we," Talon replied. "We know Chihiro is innocent and there's no way she would kidnap any of those Pokemon. You were there when Chihiro had saved my life from that Serperior, so we are going to do anything we can to prove her innocence."

"Well it's a good thing we ran into each other, we actually might have a lead," Dust explained.

"Wait a minute," Trixx spoke up. "While I'm all for helping prove someone's innocence, there are way too many of us here. We're going to draw attention to ourselves if we all go together."

"Trixx has got a point." Berry frowned. "We're trying to get to the storage room to do some investigation. Trixx said she would sometimes hear whispers coming from there. But if we all go there, then the chances of getting caught would be too high."

"Then I propose that the smaller, more stealthier Pokemon go check out the spooky voices of the storage room," Kuro suggested. "The rest can investigate other suspicious places. We can all meet up at a rendezvous point."

"Good idea, we can probably meet up at the main lobby of the tournament after about half an hour," Trixx agreed.

"Then who gets to go to the storage room? I'm definitely out, I'm the biggest one here," Dust remarked.

Kuro looked between each of the Pokemon they had here.

"I'd rather not go, especially if it's going to be stuffy in there. I don't do well with stuffy places," Ivy stated.

"Fine then… Trixx will have to go, since she knows the place better than the rest of us," Kuro decided. "You, Goomy, I heard you were able to sense us coming, is that correct?"

"Oh, uh, yeah, I noticed that there were suddenly four presence around here," Berry answered.

"Alright, then you'll go too in case we run into any other Pokemon," Kuro explained.

"We?" Berry asked.

"Yup, I'll be going too, my dark skin makes it hard for others to spot, plus, you ever tried catching a Salandit before? We are pretty slippery and hard to catch," Kuro answered.

"Alright, then it's settled," Trixx spoke up. "Me, Berry, and Kuro will check out the storage room while the rest of you investigate and search for any clues."

"We'll try our best," Talon said with a wing salute.

"Berry… please be careful. I would be beside myself if anything happened to you," Shab said as Berry slithered off of Dust's back, and the Feebas had to hop off of Berry's head.

"Don't worry, I'll be fine," Berry reassured.

"She's very resilient, we both know that, Shab. Like she said, she'll be fine," Dust reassured Shab before looking at Berry. "But do be careful."

"Good luck," Tippi remarked.

"We'll see you again soon," Talon stated.

"Don't go getting kidnapped on us," Ivy said.

* * *

To say Berry was nervous would be an understatement. The last few times she went on without Dust, things didn't usually turn out so great for her. Trixx was leading her and Kuro down the corridor, taking them to the storage room. Though Kuro did have to tell Trixx to slow down a bit, because Berry was having trouble keeping up.

"Sorry… I'm not usually a fast Pokemon," Berry apologized.

"I can see why your friend is always giving you a ride," Trixx replied. "Wait, is that why Dust's fur seemed to have that extra shine to it?"

"I think some Pokemon mentioned that before about Dust's fur," Berry sheepishly admitted.

"Heh, well if you ever decide to try something else besides being a Crusader, maybe you can use your slime for a fur saloon. I think others wouldn't mind having a nice clean fur," Trixx suggested.

"Uh… well they'd need some Pecha Berries on the side if I did that. My slime does have toxins in them, Dust almost died from it before," Berry warned.

"Interesting, I never heard of a Goomy's slime being toxic," Kuro remarked. "Not that it would matter to me, since I am half Poison type myself."

"I… um… well, I'm a bit of a special case. I was raised by a family of Quigsire," Berry informed.

"I remember hearing something about that when Patricia first introduced you and your team, but I thought she was just trying to build up the excitement. Didn't actually think that was true," Trixx replied.

Berry blushed. "I was surprised Patricia knew about that. I guess the guildmasters tell the announcer what they think would sound interesting about their participating members to hype up the crowd more."

"Yeah, that sounds like something the guild masters would do. If there's anything they could all agree on, it's that they like to show off their members," Kuro chuckled.

Trixx then stopped, she peeked her head over a wall before she turned to Kuro and Berry. "There's the storage room, but it's currently being guarded. Probably to keep thieves from stealing stuff in the middle of the night."

Berry frowned a little, before she looked at Trixx. "Couldn't you use your illusion to change shifts with the guard?"

"Hah, I like the way you think, little Goomy. I wonder why others think your kind has a small brain?" Kuro remarked.

Berry blinked. "Wait, what are others saying about my kind?"

Trixx quickly cleared her throat. "Yes, Berry, I do agree with your plan. That's why I'm here after all."

"So what illusion do you plan on using to get past those guards?" Kuro asked.

"That'll be easy~" Trixx smirked before her body glowed with purple energy.

Trixx suddenly looked like Bewear. "Bewear is perhaps our most respected security guard. I doubt anyone would deny her. Though I will need one of you to go as Stufful to talk for me."

"Have Berry go. I'll be able to sneak past them while you two are distracting them," Kuro suggested. "Plus, no offense Berry, but it will make it easier for you since you are kinda slow."

Berry grumbled, but couldn't argue with that. "Fine…"

Trixx tapped Berry's body before putting the Stufful illusion on her. The two of them slowly 'walked' to the current security guard, who was a Stoutland.

"Halt! Who goes there?" The Stoutland growled.

"You can stand down, it's only us," Berry said, trying to imitate the Stufful the best she could.

At seeing who it was, the Stoutland started to relax. "Sorry about that, you know how it is. What with everything that has happened, they expect us to work extra hard now, though I don't really see why. I mean, if they have already caught the kidnapper, I can't see why they won't let us start putting things away. But it's not really our call, is it? We are just security guards. Looks like you two got stuck with night shift, well sorry to hear that but I'm about ready to go and get some rest. Good luck, try not to fall asleep, we all know what happened to Dave."

The Stoutland yawned before walking away, leaving the two.

"Huh… that was easy. I didn't even have to tell him why we were here or anything," Berry remarked when she was sure the Stoutland was out of earshot.

"He's pretty old, he kinda gets the system by now," Trixx chuckled. "Besides, whenever someone sees Bewear, they know it's time to back down and let her handle things."

"Does… Bewear not have her own name?" Berry asked.

"You know, nobody really knows. Bewear never speaks, and Stufful never said what their names were, so everyone just calls them by their species name," Trixx shrugged.

"As interesting as that is…" Kuro spoke up, opening the door to the storage room. "We should focus on the mission."

"Right," Trixx agreed before she released the illusion around herself and Berry before they went into the storage room.

Berry looked around when they were in the storage room. It was dark, and hard to see, but she could sense a lot of big boxes around. She didn't need her sight to 'see' necessarily, but she wasn't quite used to having to only rely on her senses to see where she was going. But there was also something about this place that didn't feel right. She didn't sense any Ghost types, and she was familiar with them by now, but she did sense something was here. Something that was unnatural.

"This place feels kind of… off?" Berry remarked, looking around a bit uneasy.

Trixx looked at Berry, unsure of what she meant. "Is it because you can't see in the dark that well?"

"Well… I mean I can't, but that's not it," Berry answered. "I… get the sense something or someone was here, but… they don't feel… natural? I'm not sure if that's the right word though. But it's creeping me out."

"Are you sure?" Trixx asked.

"I think she might be onto something. She was able to sense me and Team Silkwing before we even got close. Also, at first I thought it was just me, but can't help but feel a bit unsettled in here," Kuro answered.

The Zoura frowned as she gave a thoughtful expression. "You might be onto something. When I first started working here, I didn't like coming into the storage room. I always felt a little uneasy in here. But I guess I did eventually get used to it."

"The fact that this place makes Pokemon feel uneasy, unless you've gotten used to it, already brings up a few red flags." Berry frowned.

"Come on, let's start looking around. Maybe we'll find something," Kuro suggested.

Trixx and Kuro were used to working in the dark, so this wouldn't be a problem. Though Berry would need to take it a bit slower. They looked around the crates that contained many items Berry couldn't even guess, but so far there was still nothing out of the ordinary. But that strange feeling Berry felt kept nagging at her, she can sense where Trixx and Kuro were, but it felt as though there was someone else in there with them, and yet at the same time, it didn't.

Berry shook her head, trying not to psyche herself out. But then she had a thought. If she was sensing someone else was in here, perhaps she should follow that. As creepy as it was, she did want to try to find the real kidnapper, and this might be her best lead. Gulping, and reminding herself she was a Crusader, Berry started to slither to where she was sensing this other presence.

It was hard at first for Berry. When she moved closer to where she felt this other presence, it was as though they had vanished. She backtracked a bit, but suddenly felt the other presence once more in the same direction. As she moved towards the presence, she noticed it vanished once more, but instead of turning back, she decided to see what would happen if she continued on. To her surprise, her senses were telling her that no one was there, and it only got stronger the closer she got. This only made Berry continue on, going past many crates. Eventually she made it to a wall, where she actually sensed nothing. But not like before where there were no Pokemon, this sensation felt familiar, almost like the time when she and Dust found that dead end with Emerald.

Berry began to look around. Her eyes had adjusted to the darkness, so she could see a little bit easier, even though it was still difficult to see with her eyes alone. She felt like nothing was here, yet she just _knew_ something was. The fact that this felt like when she, Dust, and Emerald lost track of Icy's trail that day, already had her suspicious. Whoever was behind this was really good at throwing off Pokemon with tracking abilities' senses.

Berry then noticed a small hole on the wall. There was a tiny bit of light coming from it, it was how she even noticed it in the first place in this darkness. She took a peek through the hole, though it was too difficult to see what was on the other side. But what got her was the fact she could _hear_ voices coming from it. The voices were far too quiet for her to make out, however. But this was a big clue.

Berry quickly slithered away in order to call out to Kuro and Trixx. "Trixx! Kuro! I think I found something!"

Tixx and Kuro quickly went to where Berry was, both excited and nervous at what Berry had found.

"You did? What did you find?" Trixx asked.

"Over here," Berry moved her head in the direction of the hole before she slithered as quickly as she could to show them. "There's a small hole here. I think it leads to another room or something. There's a little bit of light on the other side. And listen… I think there are voices coming from there as well."

Both Trixx and Kuro leaned in, straining hard to listen. At first they didn't hear anything, but then they were able to pick up some voices, though they were too hard to hear.

"That's great that you found this, but it doesn't help that we can barely hear the voices," Trixx brought up.

"Let me see if Spooks is with us, he might be able to go through the wall and remain invisible," Berry suggested before she called out. "Spooks! Spooks, are you here? We could use your help!"

They waited for a few minutes, but there was no sign of the Dreepy anywhere.

"I guess he decided not to follow us," Kuro remarked.

Berry sighed. "We… didn't say he should come with us… he probably thought he shouldn't…"

"Now what? We can't get any closer unless we can squeeze through that tiny hole," Trixx questioned.

"Well you and I may not be able to, Trixx, but Berry can. I'm surprised you didn't get closer yourself, Berry," Kuro replied.

Berry blinked at the suggestion. "What do you mean I can? Look at that hole, it's too small for any of us to get any closer."

"Well for us, yeah, but you should be able to squeeze on through," Kuro explained. "Haven't you done that before?"

"Done what? Squeeze myself through tiny places?" Berry frowned. "No? Quite frankly, it never crossed my mind to do so. One of my sisters got stuck for a whole day when she tried to squeeze her head through a gate."

"Well there's a first for everything," Kuro suggested. "Do you wanna try by yourself, or do you want us to help push you in?"

Berry frowned. "What if I get stuck?"

"You'll be fine, don't worry. If you do get stuck, we can always get Bewear to break down the wall," Trixx snickered.

This didn't encourage the Goomy in the slightest. "Is this really necessary?"

"Unless you have any other ideas, I'm afraid so," Kuro answered. "Plus, whoever is talking on the other side might be the kidnapper themselves. It's a risk you'll have to take if you want to prove Chihiro's innocence."

Berry sighed, but she was a Crusader, and she was doing this for her guildmaster. "Alright fine… I don't know how I could possibly squeeze into that hole though, so you may have to help me."

"Don't worry, we will~" Trixx grinned.

Berry now found herself being stuffed into the hole face-first. She could feel Trixx and Kuro pushing her from the other side, trying to get her in deeper. Berry was worried she might suffocate with how tight the squeeze was, her body likely wasn't used to having to squeeze in such a small place.

"Are you even pushing?" Berry heard Trixx grunt.

"I am pushing. You need to push harder!" Kuro grunted back.

"Well it's not like I try to push a gooey Pokemon into a small hole everyday," Trixx replied.

"Just keep pushing, I think she's almost in," Kuro grunted once more.

Berry blushed heavily, they were pushing her under side right now, and she rather not say how embarrassing it was for her that they were pushing her there. While they were pushing and talking, all Berry could feel was as if her body was being squeezed by a pair of giant hands. At first all she felt was intense pressure, she couldn't tell how much longer her body could take this. She struggled to move towards the light, though she hoped this wasn't a metaphor for her later on if something were to happen to her. She was glad she wasn't claustrophobic, but she really didn't like feeling like she was trapped here. It was pretty hard to breathe, but she kept going, trying her best to get as close to the other side as possible. When she did get closer, she could hear the voices more clearly.

"...What do you mean you're leaving?" Berry heard a voice. She noticed this one was female. "Especially right when the others are ripe for the taking?!"

"Calm yourself, my dear assistant, I trust that you would be able to handle yourself just fine with the others," An unfamiliar male voice said in a soothing tone. "After all, you already have all the power you need to finish up here. You already have everyone in one spot, now it's only a matter of picking them up when you feel like it. But just remember, I do want to study one of them."

"Yes, I know. I'll make sure to separate _her _from the others once I capture them. I'm just a bit on edge, even though that annoying Ghost Dragon is out of the picture, I still feel as though something could go wrong," The female voice replied.

"And it's good that you are cautious. Even though all the pieces are falling into place, we shouldn't throw out caution," The male praised the female. "Now, I won't be long, but there are things that I have to attend to. By the time I come back, you should have all the Pokemon you need to satisfy your hunger, my dear."

Berry shivered a little, whoever was on the other side felt incredibly strong. She was close to the light now, but she didn't dare to move any closer. She didn't want either of them to notice her.

"Of course, Master. I am happy that you always give me this chance to become stronger from those fighters," The female voice said with respect.

Berry heard something moving, and a door creaking open, before the door closed. The other voice likely left.

"Whew, this is becoming quite a long night…" The female voice sighed tiredly.

Berry realized the female voice, likely the one behind the kidnapping, was talking to herself. The squished Goomy stayed quiet, hoping the female would say something incriminating since she thought she was alone.

"But it will all be worth it in the end. Too bad he wants that Goomy for himself, I would've loved to drain her strength for my own, though I supposed that Absol will suffice. They always seem to taste better the bigger they are," The female said while smacking her lips.

Berry's eyes widened as she accidentally let out a gasp of shock, despite feeling like her lungs were being crushed. This voice was definitely the kidnapper, but Berry hadn't expected the voice to say that this other voice, the one with the scary powerful presence, was interested in _her_!

"Huh? What was that?!" The voice asked out loud, being on high alert from hearing Berry's gasp.

Berry gulped, and had to think fast. "P-Pichu! Pi!"

"..." The voice remained quiet for a while before Berry heard a long sigh. "It's probably just a wild Pichu or something. It's been a long night, you're just stressed from not having a meal. Speaking of which, the Sleep Powder should be finished doing it's job. Time to go pick myself my meal."

Berry heard footsteps leaving the room, then the door creaking open before closing. Berry waited another minute in the wall, wanting to make sure whoever was out there wouldn't suddenly come back in for whatever reason. When the squished Goomy was absolutely sure there was nobody on the other side anymore, she moved to the hole. Berry let out a breath of relief when her head poked out from the hole. She pulled herself out of the hole, before falling out onto the floor.

_Ugh… never again…_ Berry inwardly groaned before she looked up from her position. _This is… definitely someone's room. But who's is it?_

The Goomy didn't recognize the room, but it did look a bit fancy and posh. She began to slither around a bit, looking at a desk with a computer on it. Berry frowned, realizing she could get more clues to just _who_ the kidnapper was if she could rummage through their stuff. Berry slithered over to the desk, however, she did notice a picture on the desk.

_No way… it's-_ Berry looked in shock before the door suddenly started opening.

* * *

"Dust… why are we here again?" Shab questioned the Absol as they were looking around the dead end where they last saw Emerald.

"Well I figured this would be the best place to investigate," Dust answered.

"Even though we didn't find anything last time?" Shab asked.

"It never hurts to check a second time. Maybe we missed something. Something that we might be able to notice now," Dust suggested.

Dust continued to look around at the dead end, trying to see if there was anything out of the ordinary. Just like last time, there was nothing here in this dead end. And yet Dust felt strongly that perhaps there was something hiding here, something he wasn't seeing.

"Dust, we should look somewhere else. We had both Emerald and Berry last time, and they couldn't sense anything here," Shab explained. "I'm not sure how we can do much better here."

"...Perhaps you are right," Dust agreed.

He was about to leave the dead end when suddenly Team Silkwing had showed up.

"There you are, you two had run off before telling us where you were going. We were starting to think that you might've been kidnapped," Talon said.

"Oh, sorry about that," Dust apologized.

"Why did you even come here?" Ivy asked. "It looks like nothing but a dead end."

"Well last time we were here, we were helping Emerald, the Riolu from Team Aura Force, search for her missing friends. We found something belonging to one of them and it led us to this dead end," Dust explained. "We didn't find anything last time, but I was hoping that maybe this time we might have noticed something different."

"Um… perhaps the kidnapper kept their trail covered, to make sure no sensory Pokemon can sense them? I mean… if they were able to hide for as long as they did, it would make sense they would be able to throw off sensory Pokemon," Tippi noted.

Spooks dropped his invisibility and frowned. "You think maybe there might be a secret around here?"

"That's what I think, but so far haven't found any," Dust answered. "Though I suppose it's why they are called a secret. If it was easy to find, it wouldn't be a very good secret then."

"Well if you haven't found anything, we should keep looking elsewhere. Maybe it's nearby," Talon suggested.

"Right," Dust nodded.

Dust started following after Talon and Ivy, but just as they were leaving, Talon stopped. He looked back and saw that Tippi was still by the dead end, staring at something.

"Tippi, is everything alright?" Talon asked.

"Um… I'm not sure. I think I see something that shouldn't be there," The Butterfree answered.

"What is it?" Ivy asked.

Spooks, Dust, and Shab all looked back at Tippi as well, now curious to see what it was she was looking at. But they didn't see anything unusual.

"It… um… it looks a little… weird? It's difficult to describe. I notice the color is slightly off, and there are some edges there, which I don't think is normal for a supposedly smooth wall," Tippi informed.

"Let me see," Dust got closer to where Tippi was. He didn't see anything out of the ordinary. "Are you sure? I don't see…"

Dust paused, as he focused more at where Tippi was looking at, he barely noticed something off about the wall. True to Tippi's words, he saw that the color was indeed off, though barely. And the edges were barely visible. To any passerby, they wouldn't even have noticed this strange wall, and even those who took a closer look might not have even noticed it in the first place.

"My Arceus, you're right! There _is_ something off about this wall!" Dust happily exclaimed.

"Wow, I knew having you around was the best thing ever, Tippi, but you're going above and beyond!" The Starly smiled, which made Tippi blush.

"But I examined this wall before, even felt around to see if there was anything," Dust said as he examined the strange piece. "So what makes you so special?"

Dust pushed against the piece of the wall, hoping to see if it would budge, but it didn't move. He felt around the wall, barely able to feel the edges and tried to pull it off, but it remained in place.

_Hmm, you can't be pushed, and you won't be pulled… _Dust thought to himself, trying to think of a solution. He looked back at the group, trying to see if any of them might be able to solve this puzzle. But when his eyes rested on one of them, the solution came to him.

"Spooks!" Dust shouted, causing the Dreepy to let out a small yelp of surprise.

"Y-yeah, Dust?" Spooks stuttered.

"Oh, sorry about alarming you, but is it possible for you to go through this wall?" Dust asked.

"Yeah, it should be easy," Spooks answered. "Why?"

"Well you should be able to go past this wall and see if there's a hidden mechanism on the other side. Maybe a switch or a handle that might reveal the secrets behind this wall," Dust suggested.

"I'll try," The nervous Dreepy said before he phased into the wall.

The others were eagerly waiting for something to happen. They did hear Spooks's surprised gasp though, before there was a 'ker-chunk' sound. Suddenly, the wall ahead of them began to open up, leading to a set of stairs going down.

"I knew it!" Dust shouted.

"I don't believe it," Talon gasped.

"Dang, was not expecting that," Ivy commented.

"Looks like you were right to come here, Dust," Shab congratulated.

"Well, we couldn't have done this without Tippi or Spooks," Dust replied.

Spooks suddenly came out from the wall, looking rather disturbed. "Guys! You _need_ to see this!"

Everyone looked at Spooks, alarmed by his distrubed look. But all nodded as they entered the stairway. Dust didn't know what to expect, though he did guess that perhaps the other missing Pokemon might be there. But the look on Spooks's face made him somewhat nervous at what they might see.

As they were moving, they could hear what sounded like groans and moans, some sounded scared. They soon came down to what appeared to be some kind of underground lab. But they saw some Pokemon at the corner of the wall, looking sick, weak, and unable to move. They recognized some of these Pokemon, they could see Emerald, Rudy, and Icy among the sick and weak looking Pokemon.

"What the heck? It's Team Aura Force!" Shab said in surprise.

"And the other teams that were in the tournament too," Ivy noted. "What the heck happened to them?"

Dust went to Team Aura Force to check on them. "Emerald, are you alright? What happened?"

There was no response, there were only sickly groans coming from them. Recalling his training from Dr. Perfume and started checking their vitals. He noticed that each of them had a high fever, even Rudy, despite being a fire type, was burning up. He checked their pulse, sensing how slow it was.

"Ugh…" Rudy managed to cough out.

"You're awake?" Talon asked in surprise.

"Don't… don't… get… near the… jaws…. Aaaargh…" Rudy groaned, closing his eyes.

"Rudy! Rudy, stay with me!" Dust called out frantically.

The Raboot had gone silent.

"It's no good, he's out cold." Shab frowned.

"What did he mean by 'don't get near the jaws'?" Talon frowned, his feathers a little ruffled from unease.

"Hmm...well we better look around here, maybe we might get a clue as to what these 'jaws' might be, or maybe who the kidnapper is," Dust suggested. "Just be careful when handling the equipment here, we don't know how dangerous or fragile they may be."

"What about these poor Pokemon?" Tippi asked in concern.

"Perhaps some of us should take them out of here and get some of the nurses to look at them," Ivy suggested. "Staying down here can't be good for them."

Dust nodded. "Alright, Team Silkwing, you three handle caring for the Pokemon. See if you can get more help after meeting up with the nurses. Shab, you stay here with me and help me. We might be able to find out what had happened to these Pokemon and hopefully find a solution. Spooks, you keep watch in case any suspicious Pokemon comes nearby, that way we don't get caught in surprise."

"Right," Spooks saluted a little.

Ivy began to use her vines to help pick up some of the Pokemon. Tippi and Talon could only carry one Pokemon at a time. They began hauling the poor Pokemon up the stairs while Dust and Shab began to look around the lab.

"This place is… disturbing…" Shab frowned. "What could they be doing to the Pokemon in this place?"

"From what it looks like, as well as from the rumors we've heard before, I think they were somehow drained of their vitality. As to how? Well, I think we'll be finding that out soon," Dust answered as he looked over the many different notes and equipment.

_Whoever built this place seems to have spent a long time. I can't seem to make sense of most of these equations, though I supposed if I had time I'd be able to solve them. _Dust thought to himself.

Dust continued searching through the papers, but they all seemed to have random equations or numbers, nothing that really revealed what he wanted. But then something caught his attention. Underneath the pile of notes and papers Dust saw a red folder. Picking it up he saw that it had a label.

"The Jaws of Life?" Dust read outloud. He recalled Rudy's warning about staying away from the Jaws. "I wonder if this is what Rudy was talking about?"

Dust spent the next few minutes reading what was contained within the folder. At first he was intrigued, as he continued reading on, he felt distrubed with each word that he read. But he knew he couldn't stop, he knew he had to keep going, despite how much discomfort this information was giving him. Eventually he finished, putting the folder down and leaning against one of the tables for support. He was breathing hard, his mind heavy with what he just read.

Shab himself had been looking at some vials that had mysterious chemical liquid inside them. The Feebas shivered as he looked at each one, then he stopped at a few different sized tables. There were some that were small and tiny, and others that were large enough to fit a Wailord. Shab gulped a little, not liking what those implied. There were also some kind of light and machine above these tables.

"Maybe we should leave soon. The longer we stay here, the more at risk we are at getting caught ourselves…" Shab frowned, feeling very uneasy, his wild instincts were driving him crazy, they clearly wanted him to run, or in his case, swim through the air away from this place. "It looks like Team Silkwing finished picking up the Pokemon that were by the corner."

Dust didn't reply as he picked up the folder before walking over to one of the tables that had the mysterious vials that Shab had noticed before. He gently picked it up as he examined the contents. A look of fascination and disturbance was on Dust's face.

"Dust, did you hear me? We should go now while we have the chance," Shab suggested once more.

"...I know what the kidnapper did to the missing Pokemon…" Dust finally replied.

"What?" The nervous Feebas asked.

Before Dust could answer, Spooks suddenly came flying in, looking alarmed. "Someone's coming! Hide now!"

Dust almost dropped the vial containing the mysterious liquid after hearing Spooks's warning. Putting the vial down, Dust and Shab spotted some crates stacked against the corner of the room. They opened the first one, saw that it was empty and quickly hopped in before closing the lid. Though Dust made sure to leave a tiny crack so that they might see who the newcomers might be. Dust was a bit squished with Shab though, due to the crate being a little bit small. And there was some stuff in the crate as well.

Spooks himself turned invisible, though he did go through a wall just to be safe. And not a moment too soon, because Dust and Shab could hear several footsteps coming down into the lab. While Dust may not be in touch with his natural senses like Berry was, his danger senses were going off like crazy, making him more anxious.

Dust could see some muscular Pokemon like Machamp, Conkeldurr, or Toxicroak were coming in first. They were carrying several Pokemon that appeared to be either unconscious or asleep. Dust's eyes widened, however, as he recognized those Pokemon; they were all teams from his guild. Team Rocket, Team Wild Thunder, Team Toxic Stars, even Team Destruct were all being brought in here.

At first Dust thought that maybe one of those Pokemon carrying his fellow guildmates was the one behind the kidnapping, but then a voice spoke up, interrupting his thoughts.

"So explain to me again why there are two teams missing?!" The voice shouted. Dust felt he heard it before, recognizing it as female.

"I know why one team is missing, but what happened to the other two!?" The voice growled.

"W-well… M-my Lady… Team Crimson Raiders are still in the medical room, b-being watched by the nurses… a-and we don't know w-what happened to T-Team Silkwing…" A nervous voice informed. "T-they were j-just gone when w-we got to their room."

"Look, I was left in charge, and the moment that happens, you managed to lose trace of them?!" The voice shouted, causing the other muscular Pokemon to flinch. "You better find Team Silkwing, as well as that Absol and Feebas, or so help me you will be next on the menu!"

"Y-yes, my lady! Right away!" The nervous voice quickly said.

Dust was surprised to see a Togetic flying down in the lab. "Hurry and put those Pokemon in their proper places! My lady is growing impatient. I must get the Zubat team to track down the missing teams."

Dust saw the Machamp, Conkeldurr and Toxicroak all give a quick salute before putting the bodies away. They quickly left up the stairs, not wanting to anger the one in charge any more.

"Is there anything else you wish me to do, my lady?" The Togetic asked.

"...No...for now leave me be, I wish to speak with my new _guest_," The voice answered

Dust and Shab looked out through the crate, trying to see who the voice was. To both of their surprise, they saw it was a very familiar looking Mawile. She was slowly coming down the stairs, there was a spark of hunger in her red eyes, and the big jaw-like mouth on the back of her head looked to be bulging a bit, like there was something in there.

_Patricia?! _Both Dust and Shab thought in shock at the same time.

"As you wish, my lady. I will go get the Zubat team to track down the missing teams," The Togetic bowed, though he did give a look of pity towards the bulge in Patricia's jaw.

Once the Togetic was gone, Patricia walked to one of the empty tables before she swung her head so that her jaw-like mouth could be resting on the table.

"You know, despite this night having it's issues, running into you has made this night so much better. Wouldn't you agree, Berry?~" Patricia said as the jaws opened up.

Dust and Shab were shocked to see Berry was inside Patricia's jaws, gagged and unable to move. Dust immediately had to grab onto the Feebas and his mouth before he could shout and do something reckless. It was a good thing he did, because Shab was already trying to scream out for Berry, and was flailing around frantically.

"I must say, your slime has a rather...unique taste to it. I was not expecting your slime to have traces of poison within, though it does give it a rather interesting taste~" Patricia taunted as she turned over to look at Berry. "So since you like digging around and invading the privacy of others, I thought it would be appropriate to show you around. You like what I've done with the place?"

Berry glared in defiance at Patricia, she may not be able to move, but she wasn't about to give this Mawile the satisfaction of seeing her being scared.

"Oh that's the look I wanted to see, the same one where you showed everyone your true powers," Patricia stated, looking at Berry rather hungrily. "Oh just thinking about your battle, how you almost killed Team Volcano, I'm so tempted to take you for my own."

Dust could feel Shab struggling even harder to get out of his grasp in order to save his precious Goomy, but Dust had to keep Shab under lockdown before he gave both of them away.

"Luckily for you, you are to be kept...preserved. Though, as I say it now, maybe it would be better to deal with you myself now instead of letting _him_ have his fun with you~" Patricia said, while grinning at Berry. "I've seen what he does with his..._toys_, and trust me, I think you'd prefer me over him. So how about we make a little deal? You help me by telling me where your teammates are, and after I had my fun with you, I'll let you go."

Berry continued glaring at Patricia, disgusted by her sick thoughts. This only caused Patricia to laugh though.

"Well I know you wouldn't exactly be willing to help, so how about I sweeten the deal?" Patricia asked.

Patricia then walked towards the crates where Dust and Shab were hiding, carrying Berry with her since Berry was still in her jaw, which the Goomy found disgusting. As the Mawile stopped right in front of Dust and Shab's crate, they thought she was about to open their crate, thus exposing them. Shab was hoping that she would, so that he'd have an excuse to free Berry. But to both their surprise, Patricia instead opened a crate next to them.

"I was surprised when I learned that you and that Absol were caring for this baby Larvitar, so I had to make sure that they were kept safe after that meddling Ghost Dragon was taken away," Patricia snickered. "Oh you should've seen the look on everyone's face when I showed up and offered to watch over the Larvitar and that Dreepy, none of them suspecting that I was the one behind the missing Pokemon. It was so ironic that I almost laughed out loud from how willing they were to trust me."

Berry's eyes were wide in shock and horror, then she glared even more angrily at Patricia. Dust paled, realizing just _who _Patricia was talking about. A baby Larvitar, and a Dreepy. Since Spooks was with them, that could only mean they were… _Cliff and Phantom!_

Seeing Berry's reaction, Patricia grinned even more. "Now that you know what's at risk, I suggest you behave yourself. Any unruly behavior might cause those two some unwanted consequences."

Patricia then went back to the table where she reached in between her jaws and started untying Berry's gag. As she had taken off the gag, Patricia was somewhat hoping for Berry to start attacking, to give the Mawile an excuse to retaliate, but Berry wouldn't dare risk Cliff or Phantom's life.

"What… do you want from me?" Berry questioned instead.

"Several things, though as I mentioned before, I have to keep you preserved for someone else. So for now, how about telling me where your teammates are?" Patricia asked.

Berry frowned. "I don't know where they are, we split up."

"Hmm...Likely story, I doubt you'd be willing to throw away two lives to save another two, not so easily," Patricia replied. "But it doesn't matter, we have all night to spend together, and it won't be long until the others are found."

Berry shuddered, getting the feeling that this was going to be her worst night of her life. Dust and Shab were still unsure on what to do, but Dust just knew they couldn't be reckless in this situation. Cliff and Phantom were in danger, Berry was captured, and he and Shab may not be enough to overpower Patricia.

* * *

**FoxyKhai****: DarkFoxKit:** Poor Chihiro. Don't worry, Team Night Tide is on the case.

Yeah, no, it would've been too easy if Emerald was able to just reach out to Brody. And it wasn't in our plans to do that anyways.

**Star Ophiuchus****: Traveling Master: **Luckily for Chihiro, Team Night Tide is on the case. But they will need all the determination, wits, and skills in order to catch the true perpetrators and clear Chihiro's name.

**Star Pisces****: DarkFoxKit:** Yeah, poor Chihiro.

**Greatest Guy****: Traveling Master: **While normally Chihiro would suddenly appear and respond with her own pun, at the moment she is currently being held prisoner. But I'm sure if she wasn't arrested, she'd greatly enjoy your clever puns. Hopefully Team Night Tide can prove her innocent before it's too late.

**Star Aquarius****: DarkFoxKit:** Team Night Tide are on the case. Spooks will be playing an important role.

**Guest #1****: DarkFoxKit:** Questionnaire, I would suggest typing up the name instead of just leaving it as Guest then so we know it's you.

**Traveling Master: **Dust's guilt will be coming back, it's something he does blame for himself. And Berry does feel guilty, but for more reasons than you think. But they will most likely confront those feelings in the future, right now their main concern in clearing Chihiro's name. As for Shab, he's always supportive of his friends, especially Berry, so it's also gonna be difficult for him when they have to resolve these issues.

**DarkFoxKit:** The Everstone was to help keep Berry from evolving, otherwise she would have to break her concentration in the middle of a battle in order to try to stop the evolution herself.

**Traveling Master: **Main reason they needed Eclipse was cause she's a renowned Master Rank Crusader, and being Dark Type was an extra reassurance in case Chihiro tried to escape. But this is something both Dust and Eclipse understand, so it wouldn't really create a rift between the two guilds. As for Phantom...well that's gonna be a surprise.

**DarkFoxKit:** And while yes, Chihiro is capable of putting up a fight with Eclipse, that doesn't mean she will do that. That would just get her into more legal trouble right now. Chihiro can only wait and hope someone will clear her name, if she attempted escape, well that would just look really bad for her. As for the Gible and Emerald's team, those would be shown later. We're not gonna answer those kinds of questions right now.

Shab is capable of learning Dragon Pulse, despite it only being an Egg Move normally for Feebas. Yes, there are other egg moves Shab could learn, like Dragon Breath, I think Dragon Pulse is a better dragon type attack. It'd be redundant if he learned both. Though I guess Shab could temporarily learn Dragon Breath, I actually didn't know Feebas could learn that as an egg move. Berry probably wouldn't mind teaching Shab if he asked though, she just doesn't want to be called a Dragon type. As for if Shab knows he could learn a Dragon type move before evolving, he suspects he could since he did grow up with his own kind in the wild before, but it's not something that he thinks about. Perhaps it'll be something Shab will discover later on.

**Traveling Master: **Well Brody doesn't know Dragon Pulse. In fact, no one on Team Destruct knows any dragon moves. That might change in the future, but can't say for now. But doesn't mean that Shab couldn't learn from Berry. It is possible, since we did established that others can be trained to learn moves already known by others. And while Berry is still having issues with the whole "dragon" thing, doesn't mean she wouldn't be willing to teach Shab a dragon move.

Heh, there's a reason why we made Team Crimson Raiders the rival for Team Night Tide. We have big plans for the two teams. As for Crimson, there's a lot that hasn't been revealed yet. But yes, he is stronger than his teammates, he has gone through intense training to get where he is now. Also, while he may be stronger, he's also very cunning, having let his teammates fight first allowed him to observe Team Silkwing, so he already knew that Tippi would deal the most damage. It was only until later he realized she also had an ability, Compound Eyes, that made things even more difficult for him.

**DarkFoxKit:** Yeah, Team Silkwing works best together to weaken stronger Pokemon before taking them out. I actually used this strategy myself early game with a Butterfree, a Snivy, and a Starly. It's why I liked implementing them in the story and show that even 'weak' Pokemon can be strong if they have a good strategy.

Yes, the special announcement is related to Chihiro being arrested. All of Unity Guild are supposedly suspected of kidnapping other Pokemon. The teams that lost… well, we'll let you see what happened to them later.

**Traveling Master: **I will say this, things are building up for this tournament. Can't say who will be facing who, or what will happen, just know that it's gonna be big. And Crimson does care for his teammates, though he shows it differently. He understands their desire and determination. Though out of the two, I would say that him and Blizza have more of an understanding and bond, having been on the same team longer than Levi has.

**DarkFoxKit:** Grant might evolve into a Sceptile one day, but for now he prefers to stay as a Groyvle. As for the reason why… truth be told, we haven't really thought of a reason yet, we just prefer Groyvle over Sceptile. ^^' As for Al, we do have a big backstory on him, but since it's huge spoilers, we can't go into it right now. As for Brody, he likely knows about Grant's reasons, but not Al's, since Al has no memory of his past.

We won't say much more on Otti right now. Until then, you're free to believe what you want to believe about her.

**Agoodnameguy****: DarkFoxKit:** Yeah, that tends to happen when one brings an egg home and it hatches.

**Ralmon****: Traveling Master: **Heh, I always get those two words confused. Angle and Angel, it's easy to mess up. XD But thanks for pointing that out, there are words that I end up getting mixed up from time to time, but luckily I have DF to help spot them when I make those mistakes.

**DarkFoxKit:** I can't catch all of your typos or mistakes though, especially since I tend to have those myself. I'm no autocorrect, so you have to learn to watch your own words too, TM. And the early chapters are rough, I'll admit, since we just started working together, you're going to be seeing a lot of weird writings for a while. If all of that is going to bother you though, I'm sorry, but you'll just have to deal with it if you want to keep reading. But quite frankly, it just feels like you have a problem with everything we do, which is why I'm questioning why you're still reading it if you are at this point since it looks like you just don't like the story or the characters at all.

**Traveling Master: **As for Dust, that was kinda the point for his beginning. We know he wasn't the best guy, he has done many mistakes and he was very selfish. It's why he got kicked out of his old guild, so that he could better learn and improve himself. The beginning of this story he's still gonna be making mistakes, cause before he didn't really have to face real consequences. The only punishment he ever got was from his mother, but after so long, he's gotten used to it.

Now that he's at a new guild, he's going to be learning that there are many things he can't just say and do without facing any kinds of repercussions. It's also why Berry is there with him, to help him learn more, and to have better common sense.

**DarkFoxKit:** We're not saying all this to get you to like Dust, mind you, we're just trying to explain what we had in mind for Dust when we wrote this. We're not saying Dust was likable at first, or that you should feel sorry for him as you seem to be implying. He was supposed to be unlikable, and from there, his character was supposed to grow and learn. He realizes what he's done in the past was bad, and how he feels about it now. We're not trying to put Dust in the right here, but this is from his point of view in a way, and it shows how he thinks. Berry is there to be his moral compass and teach him right, since she knows better when it comes to social interaction. If you still hate Dust and still think what we're doing with him is bad or hypocritical, then I'm sorry that's how you see him and us as writers. We write our ideas to entertain people, not annoy them to high heck.

**Traveling Master: **Concerning Dust being thrown out of his old guild, the only ones who know about that are Dust, Chihiro the Guildmaster, Carrie, and Berry. Even though he was thrown out, they still wanted Dust to have a fresh start, so not everyone knows about why he joined at the moment.

**DarkFoxKit:** As for the info-dumping, dude, have you ever read a proper story before? Even other Pokemon Mystery Dungeon stories have these info-dumps. While I understand the people here may not absolutely need them, that doesn't mean they're not necessary. The story could work different from how the games work, and we needed to make sure everyone knows how the dungeons and other things in the story would work. If it bothers you that much, then you can skip them. I'm not sure what you mean by the story is poorly structured, just that you have a lot of issues with how we wrote it. We thought it was a good beginning at least.

Fine, you can keep reviewing, but the main issues we have with your criticism is that it's not just because they're criticism, they're mostly complaints with how you didn't like certain things, or misunderstood what we had going for completely. You never gave us any reason to believe you even liked a single thing about our story. You seem to not want to give any sort of praise whatsoever, which leaves us questioning why you're even reading this in the first place if you dislike it so much. All that comes to mind is that you want to attack us as writers, and maybe that wasn't your intention, but it certainly came off as that way to us. Especially when you say things like 'you should be discouraged', if we've done something offensive or hypocritical, we certainly don't see it nor was it our intention to do so.

**Traveling Master: **And like DF had mentioned, things were rough in the beginning, but that's because it was mine and DF's first time writing together. As well, we were still getting the feel for the story itself. Everyone has the right to review stories how they see fit, so whether you decide to continue to read this story and review, well that's up to you. We've done our best to explain ourselves, and hope that you understand why we've said many things just now. But like I said, that's up to you. We will continue to do our best to improve our writing, to continue with this story, for we have big plans in the future. Hopefully you'll get to see where this story goes, along with everyone else who takes their time to read our story even if it is a hot mess. And if not, or if you still dislike it, all I can do is wish you a good day, and hopefully you find other stories to enjoy as well.

**DarkFoxKit:** And just remember, we are people with feelings. We can feel sensitive to our work. We won't stop you from speaking your mind, but just keep in mind that we are only human, and we're not professional writers. We are also not you, so we can only write with what we think, not what you think. We can't please everybody. We will try our best to write a good story, but we understand it will not be for everyone. And remember; there is such a thing as speaking _too_ much of your mind.

**Cosmo Light****: DarkFoxKit:** Heh, glad you liked that twist at who won the tournament there. Even we were surprised that Team Silkwing won it. TM and I had a long discussion about who should win, and how. In the end, we decided on Team Silkwing, and had to be careful with how they won so it would be believable.

**Traveling Master: **That isn't a bad theory, we did mention before that one of the figures had a serpent like body. But don't forget, there's two of them, and we did mentioned how the second figure was the one with red eyes. Again, not a bad guess, but can't say more, especially since we are getting close to the climax.

**DarkFoxKit:** Chopper has his history with Chihiro, but he mostly doesn't like her because she's pretty much the opposite from him. While Chopper believes that the guild should only be for strong Pokemon, while weak Pokemon should be stamped out, Chihiro welcomes any and all Pokemon whether they're weak or strong, and he hates that. He feels Chihiro is weak for thinking this way. I don't mean physically weak, Chopper knows how strong Chihiro is, but he thinks she's mentally weak.

Thank you for your words of encouragement!

**The Moonfox Collective****: Traveling Master: **Heh, before Dust wouldn't really care, since all he had to care about was himself. But since joining Unity Guild, he has come to care deeply for his teammates, so seeing how it was his mistake that cost them the match will definitely be on his mind for a while. Oh, we have plans for Berry too, though not in the way you'd think.

First off, love the reference to Among us. Second, it's not all of Unity Guild, just the members who were participating in the tournament. But it does have to do with Chihiro's arrest, as the two _imposters_ did mention how as long as Chihiro was keeping watch over the other members, they couldn't get close to them. Now that Chihiro is out of the picture, nothing can really stop them from getting what they want. Sorry for the long update, and for making you hold your breath for so long. Hope the wait was worth it.

**matthewfw190: DarkFoxKit:** Sorry the next chapter took so long to update. It might be like that for a little while, but hopefully for not too much longer.


End file.
